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Modified Steel Grades (Part 1)

Part One of Two Steel grades in the U.S. are generally referred to by the materials standards and grading systems presented by various entities. The most common being: SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), ASTM (American Society of Testing Materials), AISI (American Institute of Iron and Steel), and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Those are certainly not all of them. Add to those an entire host of international agencies and it becomes a very large […]

February 7, 2022 /0 Comments/by

What About Steel Properties?

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES: Generally, density, thermal and electrical conductivity are considered to be PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. The following represent MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. If you expect a piece of steel to make a certain part, or provide certain benefits, you should know something about the nature of the steel you are purchasing. Understanding the mechanical properties of the steel will give you a better understanding as to how hard it will be to fabricate (cut, form, drill, tap), as […]

January 7, 2022 /0 Comments/by

Welding 11 to 14% Manganese Work Hardening Hadfield Steel

From January 2020 post: NOTE: These are tips and guidelines/suggestions, acquired over the years. Not instructions. There are steel grades (Mild Steel) that pretty much won’t harden by heat treatment. There are steel grades that are hardenable by thermal treatment. And there are steel grades that won’t harden during heat treatment but will harden if you whack em’ around; known as Work Hardening, Strain Hardening, or Cold Working steels. The most common of the work […]

December 7, 2021 /0 Comments/by

Heavy Maintenance Royal Pains – Galling Stainless

Over the years we have looked at the nuisance of galling in several separate blogs. That is because, every year galling makes it to the leader’s group of “Heavy Maintenance Royal Pains”, alongside, magnetism, barber pole-ing, and cupping or oil-canning. So, let’s begin with this for anyone absent those days; Galling is the seizing of mating parts. A sort of Cold-Welding as it were. When it is time to disassemble for inspection or repair, often […]

November 8, 2021 /0 Comments/by

Wear Resistant Structurals: Is it Possible?

Let me know if this reads a better, changed the order and made it (in my opinion ) a little easier of a flow without altering the message Are there hardened (400bhn) wear plate angles and channels? November 2021 Blog NO SUCH THING AS WEAR RESISTANT STRUCTURALS? (Other than low-hardness A588) It is possible to make your own! We stock a true 400bhn wear plate (sheet), 1/8” x 60” x 120”. It is clean, flat, […]

October 27, 2021 /0 Comments/by

Keystock Revisted

Or, “Keystock, we hardly knew ye. . .” So, back in April of last year I was eulogizing Keystock; at least the longer length, higher strength, plus-tolerance kind, that for years had been a “go-to” product for a lot of people. It seemed Keystock would be going the way of the Dodo bird. But, I was apparently wrong. More correctly, it was going the way of Coke, or New Coke, or Original Coke, whatever. The […]

September 15, 2021 /0 Comments/by

Lean Duplex – Part Two: Who Can Use This Product?

The easier question to answer would be; who can’t use it? A continuation of last month’s post: Service temperatures should not exceed 750F. Any customer currently using stainless of the following types: 304L, 316L, 410, 416, 17-4ph should consider LDX, (ASSOCIATED STEEL’S ASC2250 LDX). LDX is now made by several steel mills, to their own specific variances. In general, it is a great stainless grade for heavy maintenance applications where the grades listed immediately above […]

August 6, 2021 /0 Comments/by

Lean Duplex Stainless: What Is It?

If memory serves, I did a post on Lean Duplex some time ago. It is an important grade of stainless and worth a revisit. Basically, Lean Duplex is a leaner chemistry derivative of Duplex Stainless Steel. Duplex Stainless Steel is recognized as having a unique shared grain structure; Austenite and Ferrite. Each of those grain types contributes to the characteristics and performance of the steel grade. The grade was developed to provide resistance to Stress […]

July 6, 2021 /0 Comments/by

About Chromed Rods Part Three of Three

This is the last of our three-part post on chromed shafts. In order to extend service life, by resisting surface wear on the rod, the rod surface needs to be hard. It also needs to be relatively smooth, so as not to tear up the seals. And the rod needs to be straight. In most cases, chrome is an ideal surface coat for Hydraulic Rods. Hard Chrome may be better. IHCP is better still. The […]

June 11, 2021 /0 Comments/by

About Chromed Rods – Part Two of Three

Continuing from our last post, we are discussing chromed rods. When they are applied correctly, chromed Rods typically extend service life compared to standard carbon and alloy bars. Variables relative to those materials would be the steel type, actual hardness, and the type of hardness (surface or throughout). The benefits of chromed rods address sliding surface abrasion and corrosion. In actual service, however, even sliding abrasion applications are not just limited to sliding abrasion. Small […]

May 6, 2021 /0 Comments/by