A2 Tool Steel Technical Data

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Uses:

Punches, dies, trim dies, blanking dies, forming dies, compacting dies, die casting dies, stamping dies, can tooling, planer knives.

Forging/Rolling:

Preheat to 1250° F and soak thoroughly.  Then raise to 2000° F – 2050° F.  Do not forge or roll below 1700° F, cool slowly from the forging or rolling temperature.  Do not normalize.

Annealing:

Heat slowly to 1650° F, and hold for uniformity, cool at a rate of 20° F per hour to 1150° F reheat to 1350° F hold for 3 hours per inch of thickness; furnace cool at 20° F per hour to 1100° F, then furnace cool to 900° F and air cool.  Brinell hardness 212 max.

Hardening:

Preheat to 1200° F – 1250° F, soak until uniformly heated, and either transfer or raise furnace temperature to 1750° F – 1775° F, and hold 1 hour per inch of greatest thickness.  Quench into 150° F oil.

Tempering:

Temper immediately after quenching, before part has cooled to below 150° F.  Parts should be held a minimum of 2 hours per inch of greatest thickness.  Double tempering is recommended for the A-2 grade.   For most applications the tempering range from the A-2 analysis is 350° F – 450° F.  The above tempering table may be used as a guide.  However, since 1/2″ dia. specimens were used for this test, it may be found that heavier sections are several points lower.