suggested material specification

[brian4068]

Hello all, I am looking to manufacture a pair of embossing rollers with a detailed form either spark eroded or wire cut on the O/D. The rollers require hardening to a minimum of 52Rc and will be heated to maximum 150 degrees C when in operation.
In an ideal world the selected material would have a very low CTE, be capable of taking a through hardening treatment (to enable the machining to be finished after hardening) and be tough as oppose to brittle to ensure the detailed profiles do not shear off.
Ignoring the CTE I was looking at tool steels, D2 has relatively long 'strands' which even when tempered back could still introduce cracking, my best bet at present is the likes of H13 tool steel, however I am interested to know if anybody can recommend any other similar materials but with a CTE of approximately 70% of H13 up to 200 degrees C, varied suggestions including steels, super alloys, powder metallurgy etc are encouraged!

Many thanks in advance!

 

[TVP]

If you are embossing steel, then you need to look at tool steels, either cold work grades like D2 or proprietary (Vanadis or Vancron 40 from Uddeholm, K390 from Bohler, DC53 from Daido, etc.), high speed steels/HSS like M4 or proprietary (DRM3 from Daido, YXR7 from Hitachi, etc.), or powder metallurgy HSS like PM M4, HS 6-5-3 (ASP23 or similar), etc. Here are some links for more information:

http://www.bucorp.com/cold_work.htm

http://www.cartech.com/toolsteelspowder.aspx

http://www.crucible.com/eSelector.htm

http://www.hitachimetals.com/product/specialtysteel/toolsteel/

http://www.imsteel.com/

 

[brian4068]

Many thanks for your note.

For your reference we are embossing a plastic material at a temperature of maximum 150 degrees C, does this affect your material suggestions? We require as a lower CTE as possible to minimise movement of the material through the temperature range.

 

[TVP]

Since it is plastic, you won't necessarily require the ultimate in hardness, wear resistance, etc. that highly engineered tools steels provide. Having said that, the lowest CTE that I could find is for Uddeholm Vanadis 60, a highly alloyed PM HSS: 10.6 up to 400 C vs. 12.6 for H13:

http://www.bucorp.com/vanadis_60_c.htm