You might find it confusing to choose between hot work tool steel and cold work tool steel while choosing a material for any particular project. And in keeping with the ready availability of so many tool types, you are not alone in this woe. But having some basic yet precise know-how on both steel types might make choosing easier.

Know the Different Steel Types

Among the various tool steel types, hot work tool steel and Cold Work Steel have earned a special place among metallurgical engineers. Hot work steel is typically more common in applications that require high abrasion. Again, cold work tool steels work best in the procedures that require a cold environment, far away from any source of heat.

What is Cold Work Steel?

The Cold Work Steel is useful in making tools whose processing needs a temperature below 260 degrees Centigrade. This variety of tool steel is ideal for making plastic moulds, piercing dies, taps, shears, gages and the like. This steel variety is popular for its resistance to abrasion, wear resistance and heat softening. More precisely, this steel is ideal for simple manufacturing procedures that do not need any scaling for high temperatures.

What is hot work steel?

This type of tool steel is particularly effective in producing tools that would be used under very high temperatures. This variety of steel is ideal for materials like pieces of iron, alloy derivatives and even metals of non-ferrous composition. The tools made from hot work tool steel can work under temperatures as high as 700 degrees Celsius. Also, when this type of tool steel works with other alloys and metals, it might undergo a high level of abrasion. This is why, during its processing, this steel type is made resistant to thermal shock, wear resistance, and temperature resistance.

The Difference between the two

You can say that both varieties of tool steel have their exclusive characters. And both varieties have their demand in the market. This depends on the specific applications and composition. Apart from the varied range of temperatures that they work with:

• Cold work tool steel usually has a higher carbon content (about 1.45% - 2.30%). 

• This makes this variety of power scalable as well as resistant to wear and tear. Again, hot work steel has medium carbon content (about 0.3%- 0.6%). This property aligns with the needs of applications that require excellent wear resistance, thermal conductivity and hardness.
• Hot work steel is ideal for applications like die casting. But cold tool steel is more suitable for blanking dies, dies for cold extrusion, and bending dies.

Which type of tool steel suits your application best?

No matter your application, every project calls for care and precision to maximize the efficiency of tools. This is where the choice of tools plays a significant role. Also, selecting a tool would depend on various factors like surface hardness, shock resistance, cost, and toughness, among others. This is why there are times when picking a tool steel can be really tricky. This is where the assistance of expert tool steel suppliers pitches in.