Gergely Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Has anyone experience forging 1.2080 / AISI: D3 / England: BD3 / EU: x210Cr12 (Bohler K100) cold work tool steel? I have read the minimal info I could find, but really like to hear if someone has done actual work wtih this stuff. I only want to have some fun with it. Bought a 400 mm / 16" long 25,5 mm / 1" dia piece to see what can I do with it. Also it's the highest C content steel you can buy around here, so wanted a bit for the spark test archives, too. I've read it has some difiiculties when heat treating and generally pretty oversensitive for not-suitable heating. If you can add any info, please do so. Any comments are welcome! Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackdawg Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 looked it up - huge carbon content - certainly going to know your on the end of the hammer trying to forge that stuff! High chromium content, is it air hardening.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakksmyth Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Start forging at 1010ºC to 1095ºC. Stop forging when temperature hits 925ºC (ASM International Guidelines) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 Thanks guys! I use a power hammer - so hopefully no big issues with hard hammering. 8 hours ago, Blakksmyth said: Start forging at 1010ºC to 1095ºC. Stop forging when temperature hits 925ºC (ASM International Guidelines) Yeah, that's what I found, too. Quite sensitive to heat. Any personal experience working with this stuff? Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakksmyth Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Only heat treating it. It was very popular with toolmakers for punches and dies and we hardened to 58 - 60 HRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 24 minutes ago, Blakksmyth said: Only heat treating it. It was very popular with toolmakers for punches and dies and we hardened to 58 - 60 HRC. Okay, thank you! Heat treating it looks pretty tricky, too - I assume you did it in proffesional owen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blakksmyth Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Quenched in oil from 900ºC from cyanide salt bath then double tempered at 220ºC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Do they suggest a high temp soak period to solutionize the carbides? Some of the high alloy steels profit from that before heavy hammering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Do they suggest a high temp soak period to solutionize the carbides? Some of the high alloy steels profit from that before heavy hammering. Yes, they do. Right now I can't remember that before or after the forging or both times. So, after I educated myself a bit on this matter (how to get a self-ironic smiley) I gave it a try. Just for fun - as I said earlier. The experience I learned was very edifying (if I use the correct word): stop being an idiot and don't fool around with stuff you can't use properly othervise you're just wasting time and money. As for the fun part: this stuff has over 2% Carbon and 12% Chromium in it. Even under power hammer (66lbs/30kg springhammer) it was PITA to forge. When it was at its "right" forging temperature (hopefully) it moved all right. But after 20 seconds it cooled down, stopped moving and anyways it should have to be put back to the fire. After circa 111 heats I made this punch, I intend to (not) use as a hot punch. I cleaned it up a bit to remove the rough forged surface, that I usually don't need to do when I make this sort of tooling. It has some cracks near the striking end, so it was really worth the effort . I only normalized it and have no intention to harden. Hit it a few times with a smaller hammer and it hasn't break. Conclusion: I have tried to forge this alloy, did not success with it, but can be in peace for the rest of my life because 1.2080 is checked. Yeah, and now I have a big piece left to use it for spark testing. Bests: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 Yes the high alloy steels will need a solutionizing of the carbides as part of heat treat and then usually a pretty precise heat treat, (think computerized electric furnace with ramping controls!) to get the best out of them---and as you generally paying a high price you want the best from them! (You don't buy gem quality diamonds to grit your walk...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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