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4140 Alternatives?

4140 Alternatives?

4140 Alternatives?

(OP)
Good Afternoon/morning,
I am looking for an alternative to 4140 normalized and tempered steel. The customer is looking for material, steel and non-steel, that has a minimum yield strength of 60,000 psi and a max tensile strength of 240,000 psi.
So far we've found a few alternative materials but they've run to exotic/expensive end of the material spectrum.
Is there any common material, steel or non-steel, that anyone can think of? Please reply. Thank you

 

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

What product form? What is the intended application?

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

WHY is the customer looking for an alternative? Is it just an exercise to see if there is anything better and cheaper, or is there some as-of-yet-unstated shortcoming with the 4140?

Not being cheeky, just thinking along the lines of "a problem well defined is a problem half solved".

My 2 cents.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

(OP)
The material on the drawing calls out for 4140 or equivalent with the min yield and max tension. We're quoting a cheaper alternative for it, being told from the customer that the material part was over engineered.
We have found that the part can be made out of 303 cold drawn steel, meeting the material requirements.  

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

BAMTech;
The spread between YS and maximum ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is very large. The minimum yield strength would most likely be the critical property that would dictate use, unless this component is allowed to yield (permanently deform) in service.

Second comment - when you start to look at alternative materials be very careful because strength properties are only one aspect to use. Will the component be exposed to corrosive service? What about joining - welding? What about toughness requirements?

My final point is alterative materials need careful consideration. If something appears to be over engineered, it may have been for a reason or your customer thinks it is looking for a cheaper alternative. Better proceed with extreme caution.
 

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

Steel- one of the HSLA grades according to ASTM A1008/A1008M or A1011/A1011M for sheet metal and A656/A656M for plate.

Aluminum alloy 7075-T6 will meet this requirement and is available in just about any product form.  

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

Try with AISI 8620. This substitution may be beneficial.  

RE: 4140 Alternatives?

Look at microalloyed steels, these are the modern versions of HSLA.
There are ASTM bar and sheet specs for them.
These materials can reach 100ksi UTS and higher with no Q&T treatment.  This makes processing less expensive.
There are a bunch of grades depending on strength level and the amount of forming that you are doing.
There are even bake hardening grades that will increase in strength at paint curing temperatures (think auto bodies).

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