Silver steel, also known as tool steel in the UK, is a carbon alloy composed of various elements. It can be produced through traditional crucible or powder methods and can be hardened and tempered for various uses in industrial equipment, hand tools, and household objects. It is widely used in daily life.
Silver steel is commonly known as tool steel in the UK. It comes in round bars, sometimes called tool blanks, and is comparable to drill rods in the US. The word silver refers to the color of the metal, not the composition. This metal is actually composed of carbon, manganese, chromium, silicon, phosphorus and sulfur.
The production of silver steel can be done through two different methods. The traditional crucible method involves melting crushed ores together in a crucible and then melting the molten metal into ingots for further shaping. The powder method uses elemental powders that are melted and then flash frozen into ingots of pure metal. The ingots are then subjected to a cold welding process and moved on to forming. The final process of both methods involves the use of rolls and high-temperature forging to form the metal into the desired size and shape for the tool blanks.
Silver annealed steel has a hardness of 27 on the Rockwell hardness (RHC) scale. Using various metalworking processes, this alloy is capable of being hardened to 64 RHC. The hardening process used for silver steel involves heating the metal to temperatures of 770-780 degrees Celsius (1418-1436 degrees Fahrenheit). The metal is then rapidly cooled, or cooled, by immersing it in water. In some cases, oil is used instead of water. The oil method requires higher temperatures and only thin diameter bars can be treated with this technique.
This metal can also be tempered. The process of hardening silver steel requires heating the metal to a set temperature and then holding this temperature for a period of time. Industry standard wait times are one hour for every inch (2.54 cm) of thickness. However, this is only a minimum standard and actual hold times may be longer to produce the desired effects on the metal.
The uses of silver steel are plentiful. Industrial equipment, including machinery and transportation equipment, is made from this metal. Even many of the objects found in the home, such as cutlery and pots, are made of silver-plated steel. On the shop floor, this material is commonly found in hand tools such as screwdrivers, punches, engravers and files. Silver steel is even used in the automobiles, bicycles, and subway systems that people use on a daily basis. To put it simply, this alloy is one of the most commonly used metals, and it would be hard to conceive of an area of life where this metal is not found.
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