Sheet steel hardness
 

I have some drawn parts to make and have one drawing die done, the part looks like a
top hat. I do have similar parts made by other manufacturers. I'm not sure what
steel to use, cold-rolled, drawing or deep-drawing? I have successfully made some
parts with the die but there will be more operations done on the part where we
essentially turn part of it inside out. My question is one that my steel suppliers
can't answer, the salesmen are nothing more than order-takers.

Would the different steels have different hardness that is standard? I haven't tested
any of them yet, I just thought of it. But, if this is so, I could tell what steel
the other manufacturer is using. Until recently, I'd never heard of Aluminum-Killed
Steel (AK) or AKDQ (Aluminum Killed Draw Quality) I will track it all down and figure
out the correct steel for the part but if anybody has any experience with drawn parts
or the different grades of steel, I'd appreciate any advice, the price difference is
very significant.

(Drawn parts are Black Magic!)

Sheet steel hardness
 

Tom Gardner wrote in
rec.crafts.metalworking on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:56:41 -0500:

Would the different steels have different hardness that is standard? I haven't tested
any of them yet, I just thought of it. But, if this is so, I could tell what steel
the other manufacturer is using. Until recently, I'd never heard of Aluminum-Killed
Steel (AK) or AKDQ (Aluminum Killed Draw Quality) I will track it all down and figure
out the correct steel for the part but if anybody has any experience with drawn parts
or the different grades of steel, I'd appreciate any advice, the price difference is
very significant.


If you look in Mach. Handbook, you will find a list of steels and what
they are used for. But Draw Quality sounds good.
--

Dan H.
northshore MA.

Sheet steel hardness
 

You did say "steel". So, the lower in carbon content, the more ductile
it will be.
If you just go to the steel yard and ask for some sheet steel, you
will quite likely get A36, which can have a carbon content as high as
0.29%. You want a LOT less carbon than that.
Ask for 1010, 1008, or, better yet, 1006. The first "10" means
"plain carbon steel", ie: mostly just iron and carbon. The second two
numbers tell you how much carbon is in the iron.
Ex:
1010 = plain carbon steel with 0.1% carbon
1008 = plain carbon steel with 0.08% carbon, etc..

Some places sell special steels that are used for making transformer
laminations. I hear that this stuff is good for drawing, too.

One of the problems with finding these materials is that they are often
sold by the ton, or even 10's of ton lots. But if you do find a place
that sells it that way, beg them to give you the name of a few
customers. They may well have sizable drops that you can get.
A friend of mine did that and found the user had thousands of pounds
of 4' X 4" drops to sell!
I am blacksmith and I do some drawing and repousse' using steels such
as this. My experience: once you get down to 1010, the ductility
doesn't get much better by going to the 1008 or 1006. And workhardening
is almost non-existant in all three.

Pete Stanaitis
-------------------

Tom Gardner wrote:
I have some drawn parts to make and have one drawing die done, the part looks like a
top hat. I do have similar parts made by other manufacturers. I'm not sure what
steel to use, cold-rolled, drawing or deep-drawing? I have successfully made some
parts with the die but there will be more operations done on the part where we
essentially turn part of it inside out. My question is one that my steel suppliers
can't answer, the salesmen are nothing more than order-takers.

Would the different steels have different hardness that is standard? I haven't tested
any of them yet, I just thought of it. But, if this is so, I could tell what steel
the other manufacturer is using. Until recently, I'd never heard of Aluminum-Killed
Steel (AK) or AKDQ (Aluminum Killed Draw Quality) I will track it all down and figure
out the correct steel for the part but if anybody has any experience with drawn parts
or the different grades of steel, I'd appreciate any advice, the price difference is
very significant.

(Drawn parts are Black Magic!)