These are the specs right off the HT certs.
Degrease, 1925 deg. 1.5 - 3 hrs, Argon, Oil 60 - 160 deg., -90 deg. or lower, 3 hrs. 675-775 deg.,3 hrs. Air 675-775 deg.3 hrs., air rem oxide, HRC 52-56
Actual HRC 54-55
I think next time I will try Crucibles material and perhaps another heat treat...
We have not done a micrograph exam of the structures as yet. I am considering trying a different material that may have a more uniform microstructure than 440C. This part is used in manufacturing medical devices (corosion resistant) and needs to be very stable to hold shape during the EDM...
Let me clear this up a bit. I am assuming the cracks are happening during EDM. I have a 4.5" dia X 2.5 " blank that 9 curved pieces are being cut from. The shape is critical thus they are cut after heat treat. I have an outside shop doing the EDM. They rough cut all the pieces then do all of the...
I have some parts wire edm cut from a round blank of 440C. The material is hardened to 52-56 HRC per AMS 2759/5 type 3 with sub zero cooling. The certs say it is 54-55 HRC. During the edm process the tips of my part tend to crack. This has only occurred twice out of many parts, but since it...