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Otai company provides the DC53 die steel for the mask factory. We will provide a premium mask mold to meet the demand for mask manufacturing.

Today is Monday, the first day of a new week, I am wondering what to share with customers. Our company locates in Dongguang city, Guangdong province. The weather turns to be hot. Because of the pandemic, we also have to wear the mask every day to control the spreading of the virus. However, I read a news that many people gathering beside the beach without wearing a mask. It is very dangerous, I hope the days without wearing a mask will come soon. Otai company provides the DC53 die steel for the mask factory. We will provide a premium mask mold to meet the demand for mask manufacturing.

Although almost five-month past, the virus doesn’t disappear. The hottest days are around the corner. Although it is un-convenient for us to keep social distance, wearing a mask. However, we have to keep doing this to shorten the hard times. Even though the virus is under control in China, most of the people still keep the masks. The new arrival of DC53 die steel is still popular at our company. We are busy producing the mask mold every day. We not only provide the N95 mask mold but also provides the Ultrasound parts for mask mold. As we have talked before, DC53 steel is a good choice for mask mold manufacture. The quality is better than other materials.

Properties of DC53 die steel

Cold work DC53 die steel overcomes the insufficient of SKD11 high-temperature tempering hardness and toughness of weakness, DC53 tool steel will fully replace SKD11 tool steel in the field of general and precision mold. Its toughness is 2 times of SKD11, DC53 toughness is more prominent in the cold work die. Made of DC53 tools steel rarely appears crack and craze, greatly improving the service life.

The DC53 steel has a uniform distribution of fine carbides. It has great galling and wears and fatigue resistance. It has also a High temper resistance to support PVD & nitride surface treatments. And it has Machining and grinding properties are superior to most other tool steels.

Hoping the day we can freely go outside without wearing a mask, if you have demand about the mask mold, please feel free to contact me.

Mr Jack Tan

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

how to improve the lifetime of die made of the 1.2344 die steel ? We can talk about it from the improvement of the heat treatment.

2. Heat treatment strengthening of 1.2344 die steel

The main structure of 1.2344 die steel in the annealing state is pearlite. and its performance is not up to the requirements of the mold. so it must be hardened and tempered to improve its overall performance.

In the quenching stage, the steel is heated above the austenitizing temperature. and then the steel is cooled with a greater degree of supercooling to obtain the hardened martensite structure. In the tempering stage, the steel is reheated to the austenitizing temperature. and the hardened martensite structure is transformed into a tempered martensite structure, to improve the comprehensive properties of the steel.

1) the quenching phase of 1.2344 die steel

Through the metallographic analysis of a large number of dies with premature failure, it is found that the coarse austenite grain is one of the important reasons leading to the premature failure of dies. The thickness of austenite grain is directly related to the service life of the die.

The larger the grain size, the greater the tendency of cracking and distortion during quenching. Therefore, the austenite grain size must be controlled effectively.

The original structure and thermal conditions of steel will affect the austenite crystal. Therefore, in the quenching phase, to obtain fine grain austenite, it is necessary to strictly control the heating temperature and holding time.

2) tempering stage of 1.2344 die steel

After the steel is hardened, there will be greater internal stress. The purpose of subsequent tempering is to remove the internal stress and make the metastable structure stable.

Too much residual austenite will reduce quenching hardness and embrittlement will occur during use due to aging deformation (transformation into martensite). General primary tempering can not reduce the residual austenite to a reasonable level. In actual production, secondary tempering is used, the tempering temperature is usually about 590℃, and air cooling.

Since martensite is formed during rapid cooling, air cooling occurs after each tempering to create a temperature gradient that allows the residual austenite to be transformed more thoroughly. After the second tempering, the hardness of the workpiece is maintained at HRC 47-50 to ensure that its performance meets the requirements.

The quality control of die steel is very important, it affects the life of die, product quality, and production efficiency.

Mr Jack Tan

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

When 1.2344 die steel is used as hot die steel, how to improve the lifetime of die?

1.2344 die steel is the most widely used hot die steel. However, with the development of the aluminum extrusion industry, high- requirement for the extrusion mold is needed.

Effect of chemical composition on properties of 1.2344 die steel

1, C content is directly proportional to the strength of the steel, the increase of C content in the steel will improve the strength of the steel. for hot die steel, it will make the high-temperature strength, thermal hardness and wear resistance, but will lead to the reduction of its toughness.

2. Cr has a favorable influence on the abrasion resistance, high-temperature strength, thermal hardness, toughness and hardenability of steel. When the content is high, the tempering resistance is also high, and the corrosion resistance of steel will be improved obviously when it melts into the matrix.
3. Ti, V, and Mo elements. In the forging or quenching stage, carbide forming elements such as Ti and v. Mo will form alloy carbides insoluble in austenite, thus impeding austenite grain growth and refining austenite grain.

Also, in the tempering process stage, because 1.2344 die steel contains more carbide forming elements (Ti, V, Mo), when the tempering temperature is higher than 500℃, the cementite dissolves, forming a small, dispersed alloy carbide. The secondary hardening of H13 can be caused by the dispersion of alloy carbide.

Microstructure and properties of 1.2344 die steel

1. Spheroidized annealing structure

When H13 steel is accepted in the annealed state, the main structure of steel in this state is pearlite. The morphology of pearlite is different with the different annealing process. Compared with the flake pearlite with the same chemical composition, granular pearlite has lower strength and hardness, but better plastic toughness.

For H13 steel in the annealed state, the original structure is generally required to be a point or granular pearlite to facilitate subsequent machining and forming, and to obtain austenite with refined grain in the quenching stage.

to be continued

Mr Jack Tan

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

1.2311 steel is a German mold steel. The steel is produced through “ultra-purity” process, pre-hardened. It presents a high degree of micro-purity and excellent homogenous structure, excellent polishing and photo-etching floral properties. It is with good processing and polishing performance, more suitable Electric fire processing. Under conventional smelting, the steel has excellent quenching and tempering heat treatment properties.

1.2311 steel delivery condition: Hardened and tempered, the hardness is 28~36HRC.

1.2311 Reference corresponding grade

Chinese GB / YB standard grade is 5CrMnMo. Japanese JIS standard grade is SKT3. German DIN standard material grade is 1.2311. American AISI standard grade 6G, GOST TOCT standard grade 5XTM.

1.2311 steel related applications

1) Used for die casting molds of zinc, aluminum, magnesium and their alloys.

2) Used for hot stamping dies and various hot forging dies.

3) Used for metal extrusion die base.

4) Suitable for the production of large and medium-sized injection molds, as well as plastic molds with polishing requirements.

5) Used for making general plastic molds and mold bases.

6) Used as plastic mold base, mold base, die-cast mold base.

7) It can be used for plastic molds with tensile stress around 1000Mpa.

8) Suitable for small and medium-sized molds with thickness less than 400mm.

Recently, the price for the plastic mold steel is not very stable because of the virus situation. Now in China, the very busy companies are those ones which are producing the facemask and respirators. As the huge need from different countries, the orders are much more than the production capacity. Consequently, the mold steel material costs are increasing crazily because of the die and tool needed on these machines. So in few weeks ago, the 1.2311 steel price was up to EXW USD857/Ton. Now for supporting the work, our company make the special offer on this 1.2311 steel. The FOB price starts USD770/Ton for the thickness 20-120mm. But the valid time will be until this week 18th-April.

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

High-speed steel and alloy steel, which one is suitable for drills ?HSS is used as the drills, Otai provides the M2, M42, M35 steel for our customers.

There are many kinds of drill bits on the market, such as twist drill, inner cold twist drill, step drill, inner cold step drill, and other non-standard drill bits. But the materials used in these drills are generally summed up in two broad categories.

1. High-speed steel

High-speed steel (HSS) is a tool steel with rigid hardness, high wear resistance, and high heat resistance. High-speed steel tool is a tool than ordinary tools to be tough, easier to cut, high-speed steel than carbon tool steel has better toughness, strength, heat resistance, cutting speed than carbon tool steel (iron-carbon alloy) is much higher, so it is called high-speed steel; And hard alloy is better than high – speed steel, cutting speed can be increased 2-3 times.

Features:

High-speed steel red hardness up to 650 degrees.

HSS has good strength and toughness, sharp cutting after sharpening, stable quality, and is generally used to make small and complicated cutting tools.

2. Cemented carbide(alloy steel)

The carbide bit is mainly made of tungsten carbide and cobalt carbide, which account for 99% of all the components and 1% of other metals, so it is called tungsten steel (cemented carbide). Tungsten steel is a sintered composite material consisting of at least one metal carbide. Tungsten carbide, cobalt carbide, niobium carbide, titanium carbide, tantalum carbide are common components of tungsten steel.

features:

The red hardness of cemented carbide can reach 800-1000 degrees.

The cutting speed of cemented carbide is 4-7 times higher than that of HSS, and the cutting efficiency is high.

The disadvantages are low flexural strength, poor impact toughness, high brittleness, and low shock resistance.

Commonly speaking, HSS is used as the drills, Otai provides the M2, M42, M35 steel for our customers. Welcome to send me an inquiry.

Mr Jack Tan

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

42crmo4 steel is the key product of Otai company, it is popular among our customer. I wound like to talk about 42crmo4 steel applies in the Gear making.

42crmo4 steel is the key product of Otai company, it is popular among our customer. It can be used in different industry. I wound like to talk about 42crmo4 steel applies in the Gear making.

Key performance requirements for high quality gear

High quality gear steel is mainly shown in three aspects: narrow end quenching zone, high purity and fine and uniform grain.

(1) end quench band

The stability of the hardenability of the end has a great influence on the quantity of heat treatment deformation of gear steel.

(2) purity

Purity mainly refers to the decrease of oxygen content and other harmful elements. The influence of oxygen content on the fatigue life of gears has been paid more and more attention. In order to improve the purity and reduce harmful inclusions, the content of Ti in gear steel should be limited, It is the source of fatigue crack.

(3) grain size

Grain size is another important index of gear steel, because coarse grain makes the concentration of penetration layer relative increase, resulting in the increase of brittleness, make the product strength decline, the tooth surface easy to peel off. If mixed crystals appear, the heat treatment deformation between the aging teeth may lose its rules and cannot be matched. In the aspect of structure control technology of gear steel, fine austenite grain is important to the stability of steel and its products, and is the basic property of high quality steel.

why is the 42crmo4 steel applies in the Gear making.

42CrMo4 steel material is a high quality Quenched and Tempered Alloy Structural steel . It belongs to the high quality medium carbon alloy steel, Oil Quenched & Tempered Hardenss is 28-34 HRC .  Annealing delivery hardenss less than 250HB . This materials was the best choose for produce gears .It has high creep strength and durable strength at high temperature. Its hardenability is high, it has good toughness, the possibility of  quenching deformation is  small.

Mr Jack Tan

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

P20 mold and OT718 can be distinguished by the following formula: P20 + 1% Ni = OT718.

P20 mold and OT718 mold steel are universal pre-hardened mold steels, which are usually used for large and extra large plastic molds. OT718 die steel is equivalent to domestic steel number 3Cr2NiMo. P20 die steel is equivalent to 3Cr2Mo.Compared with P20 mold, OT718 die steel adds a small amount of Ni element. From P20 400mm maximum size to 1000mm maximum size, greatly improved Hardenability.

The hardness of P20 mold is 4HRC lower than that of OT718 mold steel.
OT718 has better polishing performance and can be used to manufacture plastic molds with polishing requirements. P20 mold steel can usually be used for plastic molds or plastic molds that are not required.
There are also improved P20 die steels, one is to add Ni to improve the uniformity and corrosion resistance. And the other is to add S to improve the workability  and make it more suitable for mass production. As the most commonly used plastic mold steel in China, the domestic technology is already very mature.And most steel mills have produced high-quality products. As long as the purity of the mold steel reaches the standard, and the domestic production is also very easy to use.

1.2738 is a commonly used German standard plastic mold steel, usually referred to as 738 for short. This steel is more popularly called OT718. It is generally tempered and pre-hardened to HRC28 ~ 36. After being processed into a mold, it is used directly without heat treatment.
OT718 Performance characteristics.
①Excellent polishing and photo-etching performance.
②Good machining performance.
③High purity and uniformity.
④ Uniform hardness.
⑤ Subsequent nitriding treatment or local flame quenching can be carried out to improve surface strength and surface wear resistance, and reduce surface failure.

Compared with the traditional plastic mold steel P20, 1% nickel is added to OT718,  has better toughness and hardenability. And it is more excellent in large cross-sectional molds. This steel type is suitable for large-scale plastics, especially those with thickness greater than 400mm.

Recently, the mould steel  request are increasing for fulfilling the mould tools on the different machines used on the anti-coronavirus.For supporting the work , our company make the special offer on the P20 steel plate during these days. It is the very good time to seize the rare chance to purchase this mold steel if you have any purchasing plan recently.

Tel: 0086-769-23190193

Fax: 0086-769-88705839

Email: jack@otaisteel.com

Europe Steel situation effected by COVID-19 with price ,trading issue…

The long-term producer Steel Plant (BMZ) has reduced processing capacity in the next round and wire orders of European and auto and auto parts manufacturers. This may reduce production this year by 300,000-350,000 metric tons, and encourages BMZ to carry out a three to a four-month renovation of the soot processing device that was originally scheduled to collect exhaust gas from the second electric arc furnace in 2021. The plan will be in 2020 The fourth quarter of the year, according to sources close to the company.

Price and trading volume

Steel prices are facing downward pressure due to the temporary shutdown of automobile manufacturers in most parts of Europe and the reduction in trade activity in the construction and other steel industries, which has led to the interruption of trade flows. Despite Europe ’s import protection measures, some key steel prices have reached a three-year low in 2019. At that time, the European market was oversupplied. Despite the import protection plan, imports to the EU remained at historical highs, and prices are now even Close to 2009 levels.

The Nordic HR coil ex-works price (Ruhr) started in January 2020 at a price of Eue435 ($ 469.80) / mt, even lower than Eur450 / mt in January 2009, and has risen to Eur474 / mt since the beginning of March 2020 . The impact of production cuts.

S & P Global Platts Energy Information research shows that imports are picking up, and Asia is actively providing imports to Europe. International prices are under pressure, but due to long delivery times and current trade and logistics uncertainties, many buyers have not considered imports. Nordic steel mills hope to provide hot-rolled coil CFR (North Africa) at a lower price because they seek to unload outside the EU to maintain domestic market prices.

Source Xiaomi Finance is integrated from Xinhua Net, Economic Observation Net, Overseas Steel, Tyco Steel, etc.

WhatsApp: +86-769-23190193

Tel: +86-769-23190193

Fax: +86-769-88705839

Email: Jack@otaisteel.com

Regarding analysis about the steel due to COVID-19

CIS

Regarding analysis about the steel due to COVID-19 Ukraine

In the last week of March, ArcelorMittalKryviy Rih worked in Ukraine, temporarily suspending the No. 1 blooming mill and the No. 3 light rolling mill at one of its two flowering plants. The facility will remain idle until the quarantine caused by a coronavirus in Ukraine on April 24. The plant will continue to operate mills 1 and 5, while mill 5 will maintain half of its capacity. The company said that in April and May, the output of its main products (long products, billet and pig iron) will be 20% lower than normal.Given that last year, the plant’s average monthly saleable output was 390,000-393,000 tons, and the monthly output from April to May may fall by 80,000 tons to 310,000-313,000 tons/month.

Metinvest, a Ukrainian mining and steel group, said this week that if the operations of its Italian plant will not return to normal soon, it will have to cut output from its Ukrainian steel plant. Since March 24, due to the coronavirus pandemic, its business has decreased significantly.  The production of utility steel from Italian medium and heavy plate coil producers Ferriera Valsider and Trametal, owned by Metinvest, has decreased by 40,000 metric tons.

The steel mill is scheduled to restart on April 3, but if the Italian government resumes quarantine, Metinvest will also be forced to reduce the output of its Ukrainian steel mills, mainly in Azovstal, which supplies slabs to Italian steel mills. If the situation continues, Metinvest does not rule out the temporary suspension of Azovstal’s slab continuous casting. The company may also consider blowing down No. 3 blast furnace in Azovstal and postponing the restart of the refurbished No. 4 blast furnace until May (expected to begin in April).

Although the two-week quarantine work began on March 30 in the Karaganda region where it is located, the Temirtau steel plant in Kazakhstan is still operating normally. “The company is in steel production, coal and iron ore mining as well as continuing to fulfill its obligations to customers.”

WhatsApp: +86-769-23190193

Tel: +86-769-23190193

Fax: +86-769-88705839

Email: Jack@otaisteel.com