Toolox® – the high-productivity engineering and tool steel

An automotive producer of parts for brake systems had big problems with cracking of the former tool steels H13 and P21. The tools could only process 3,000 pieces before the tool wore out. This was not a sustainable situation and a solution had to be found. The customer turned to nitrided Toolox^® 44 and reached a dramatic increase in tool life – 50,000 pieces processed before maintenance. The high surface hardness and toughness made the tools resistant to fatigue-related chipping and cracking.

Press brake tools are commonly made from 1.2312 steel. Changing to Toolox^® 33 improved the lifetime of the tools by up to 45%. Not only that, the total cost of the tools was reduced by up to 28% thanks to fewer production steps. Toolox^® 33 can be welded and laser hardened or nitrided without changing the shape which makes repair work easy. Toolox^® 33 can be used in all OEM machines.

GTECH generally used heat-treated AISI 4340 and DIN 1.2344 steels at different hardness levels for its end milling tool holders. The mainproblem was long production times caused by the heat treatment. Even if the heat treatment improved the hardness, the steel became brittle which led to cracks. Toolox^® 44 was a better option. It is already hardened and tempered, resulting in a tougher tool that lasts 15 times longer, and is faster to produce.

An Italian customer with a car scrap recycling plant experienced highwear of the rotating hammers’ pins. The pins in hardened 39NiCrMo4 could scrap around 20,000 tons before maintenance was needed. Hardening lowered the toughness of the material, making it more prone to break. With Toolox^® 44 the customer could scrap 55,000 tons before changing the pins.