Tool steels vanadium

Vanadium is used in producing rust resistant and high speed tools steels. It is an important carbide stabilizer in making steels. 

Niobium in Tool Steels. In the matrix method of tool-steel development, the composition of the heat-treated matrix determines the steel s initial composition. Carbide volume-fraction requirements then are calculated, based upon historical data, and the carbon content is adjusted accordingly. This approach has been used to design new steels in which niobium is substituted for all or part of the vanadium present as carbides in the heat-treated material. Niobium provides dispersion hardening and grain refinement, and forms carbides that are as hard as vanadium, tungsten, and molybdenum carbides. 

Metal powder-coated, through-hardened materials - these materials have been found useful when an alloy does not provide adequate forged quality and for cast materials with specific casting problems. Very fine and very even carbide distribution throughout the entire component offers economically viable (in production terms) and effective wear resistance (temperable matrix with high carbide content). Preferred materials include vanadium-alloyed tool steels. 

The segment then undergoes suitable heat treatment to achieve the desired hardness. With the help of HIP technology it is possible to produce highly wear-resistant tool steels (primarily vanadium-alloyed) but also to combine abrasion- and corrosion-resistant properties as required (Cr-, Mo-, V-alloys). HIP technology (see Section 16.4.1) also allows to specifically create materials for different applications. 

High speed steels are highly alloyed tool steels which exhibit enhanced hardness and wear resistance at high temperatures. These steels have a high carbon content and varying amounts of chromium, molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium. 

A.P.G. Gervasio, G.C. Luca, A.A. Menegario, B.F. Reis, H. Bergamin-Filho, On-line electrolytic dissolution of alloys in flow injection analysis. Determination of iron, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium and chromium in tool steels by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, Anal. Chim. Acta 405 (2000) 213. 

Hardened tool steel is another kind of difficult-to-machine material that is studied in this chapter. M7 is molybdenum-type high-speed steel designed with higher carbon and vanadium to provide high hardness (up to HRC 65-67) and good wear resistance. 

Vanadium (V). Vanadium contributes to the refinement of the carbide structure and thus improves the forgeability of tool steels. Moreover, vanadium exhibits a strong tendency to form hard carbides (e.g., VC and V C), which improves both the hardness and the wear properties of tool steels. However, an excessive amount of vanadium carbides makes the grinding of the tool steel extremely difficult, imparting a low grindability. 

Vanadium 190 15 000 000 (Geoscience Australia) 63 000 000 (USGS reserves) 60 000 (260) Iron and steel alloying accounts for the majority of consumption. Gas and oil pipelines, tool steel, motor vehicles, aerospace... 

---