The packaging industry uses extrusion, molding, thermoforming, and cutting processes to convert plastics, paper, and composites into functional packaging. Precision tooling enables high-speed production for food, pharma, personal care, and industrial applications.
The packaging industry encompasses processes and technologies used to convert raw materials into functional packaging for protection, transport, and product presentation. Key processes include film extrusion, thermoforming, injection molding, blow moulding, die-cutting, printing, laminating, and sealing. Materials range from polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, and PVC to paperboard, corrugated fiberboard, aluminum foils, and multilayer barrier composites. Tooling plays a central role: extrusion dies, thermoforming moulds, injection moulds, cutting dies, sealing tools, and print cylinders ensure dimensional accuracy, repeatability, and high-speed operation. Automated filling and packaging lines rely on precision components such as forming shoulders, sealing jaws, knives, and conveyors. Applications span food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, personal care, household goods, logistics, and industrial packaging. The industry prioritizes efficiency, product safety, and increasingly sustainable solutions such as lightweighting, recyclability, and bio-based materials.
BÖHLER K100 is a 12% ledeburitic chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2080 (X210Cr12). This commonly used tool steel is highly resistant to abrasive wear. Compared to modern cold work tool steels, BÖHLER K100 has the advantage of simple heat treatment with lower hardening temperatures and single tempering. However, this characteristic tempering behaviour limits the use of advanced coatings.
Read MoreBÖHLER K105 is a 12% ledeburitic chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2601 (X165CrMoV12). This commonly used tool steel is highly resistant to abrasive wear. Compared to modern cold work tool steels, BÖHLER K105 has the advantage of simple heat treatment with lower hardening temperatures and single tempering. The improved tempering resistance of BÖHLER K105 compared to the conventional tool steel 1.2080 also enables nitriding treatment of tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K107 is a 12% ledeburitic chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2436 (X210CrW12). Due to the higher tungsten content, BÖHLER K107 achieves a higher resistance to abrasive wear compared to the conventional tool steel 1.2080. Compared to modern cold work tool steels, BÖHLER K107 has the advantage of simple heat treatment with lower hardening temperatures and single tempering. However, this characteristic tempering behaviour limits the use of modern coatings..
Read MoreBÖHLER K110 is a 12% ledeburitic chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2379 (X153CrMoV12, D2). This tool steel combines the advantages of conventional 12% ledeburitic chromium steels with those of advanced tool steels. In the group of 12% ledeburitic chromium steels, BÖHLER K110 offers the best combination of wear resistance, compressive strength and toughness, for which reason it is used in virtually all cold work applications. Its advantageous tempering behavior with a pronounced secondary hardness maximum also enables the use of advanced coatings. This also makes BÖHLER K110 suitable for complex tools requiring a high degree of dimensional stability and shape stability.
Read MoreBÖHLER K137 is a universally applicable, ledeburitic 12% chromium steel featuring excellent wear resistance and good toughness. The steel is suitable for air hardening and shows good dimensional stability..
Read MoreBÖHLER K294 MICROCLEAN is a cold work tool steel manufactured using powder metallurgy and belongs to the group of 10% vanadium steels. The high content of vanadium carbides makes this steel highly resistant to wear. The toughness is at the same level as conventional 12% chromium steels. BÖHLER K294 MICROCLEAN is used in situations where wear resistance is the decisive factor and toughness is of secondary importance.
Read MoreBÖHLER K305 belongs to the group of 5% chromium steels and corresponds to the material 1.2363 (X100CrMoV5, A2). Compared to conventional tool steels with 1% carbon and low chromium content, BÖHLER K305 has significantly better through hardenability and wear resistance. This class of 5% chromium steels is used in situations where grades like 1.2842 are no longer sufficient in terms of wear resistance and through hardenability but materials like 1.2379 are not yet required. BÖHLER K305 is used for punching and cutting tools, die plates and inserts, thread cutting tools and machine knives in the wood, paper and recycling industries.
Read MoreBÖHLER K306 belongs to the group of 5% chromium steels and is approximately equivalent to the material 1.2345 (~X50CrMoV5 1). Its alloy composition, however, has a higher vanadium content, making BÖHLER K306 more wear resistant than the conventional hot work tool steel 1.2345. BÖHLER K306 is used in hot work applications and for stamping and cutting tools. With its high toughness and resulting high fracture safety, this material is also very suitable for machine knives in the wood, paper and recycling industries.
Read MoreBÖHLER K313 is corresponds to the material 1.2362 (X63CrMoV5 1). BÖHLER K313 is used for intermediate rolls in multi-roll stands, deburring dies and punches, cutting plates and punches, hot shears, ejection pins, drop-forging dies and hole punches.
Read MoreBÖHLER K320 corresponds to the material 1.2355 (50CrMoV13 -15, S7). According to the AISI classification system, this tool steel belongs to the group of impact-resistant tool steels (S types). This popular tool steel offers high toughness and good machinability with moderate wear resistance. BÖHLER K320 is used in cold and hot work applications as well as in plastic mold making. This tool steel is used for a wide range of tools where impact strength, good machinability and simple heat treatment are important.
Read MoreBÖHLER K329 belongs to the group of 8% chromium steels and is a modified 1.2360 (AISI A8) type. BÖHLER K329 is the classic among the chipper steels and is mainly used for machining knives in the woodworking industry, but also for knives in the paper and recycling industries. BÖHLER K329 is popular among knife customers worldwide not only on account of its excellent properties, but also because BÖHLER is able to supply customized solutions thanks to its broad product portfolio.
Read MoreBÖHLER K340 ECOSTAR belongs to the group of conventionally produced 8% chromium steels. Compared to conventional 12% chromium steels, this conventionally smelted tool steel has better toughness, hardening response and higher adhesive wear resistance. This combination of high adhesive wear resistance and toughness also offers advantages for industrial knives subject to high stress. This grade is also used for stamping and cutting tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K340 ISODUR belongs to the group of 8% chromium steels. This tool steel is produced using the electro-slag remelting (ESR) process developed by BÖHLER. This re-melting technology ensures the lowest micro and macro segregation as well as excellent purity and uniformity of the material. Compared to conventional 12% chromium steels, BÖHLER K340 ISODUR offers significantly better toughness, hardening response and higher resistance to adhesive wear. This material is therefore used in virtually all cold work applications in situations where tool steels like 1.2379 are insufficient in terms of adhesive wear resistance and toughness. K340 ISODUR also features better machinability and reduces the risk of stress cracking during electrical discharge machining.
Read MoreBÖHLER K346 belongs to the group of conventionally produced 8% chromium steels. Its alloy composition features a high content of molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium, which makes BÖHLER K346 more wear resistant and tougher than conventional 12% chromium steels (1.2080, 1.2379). BÖHLER K346 is used in situations where materials like 1.2379 are insufficient in terms of toughness and where high requirements for abrasive wear resistance are set. This combination of high wear resistance and toughness offers advantages for industrial knives subject to high stress in the recycling industry. This grade is also used for stamping and cutting tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K353 belongs to the group of conventionally produced 8% chromium steels. It is used in situations where chipper steels like 1.2360 are insufficient in terms of wear resistance and tool steels like 1.2379 (D2) do not have sufficient toughness. BÖHLER K353 is especially suitable for industrial knives for the woodworking industry. It is also used for stamping and cutting tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K360 ISODUR belongs to the group of 8% chromium steels. This tool steel is produced using the electro-slag remelting (ESR) process developed by BÖHLER. This re-melting technology ensures the lowest micro and macro segregation as well as excellent purity and uniformity of the material. The alloy composition with higher molybdenum and vanadium content makes BÖHLER K360 ISODUR even more wear resistant than BÖHLER K340 ISODUR. Compared to tool steels like 1.2379 (D2), this combination of better toughness and wear resistance offers significant advantages for punching and cutting tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K390 MICROCLEAN is a high-alloyed, high-performance cold work tool steel manufactured using powder metallurgy. This material has the highest alloy content in the group of cold work tool steels with high vanadium content. The high alloy content gives this material outstanding wear resistance. At the same time, the powder metallurgical manufacturing process creates a uniform matrix with finely distributed primary carbides. Among other things, this leads to good material toughness. BÖHLER K390 MICROCLEAN is a problem solver for applications requiring extremely high wear resistance and compressive strength.
Read MoreBÖHLER K460 corresponds to the material 1.2510 (100MnCrW4, O1) and has comparable properties to the popular tool steel 1.2842. Additional alloying with tungsten achieves higher resistance to abrasive wear compared to the tool steel 1.2842. BÖHLER K460 offers the advantage of simple heat treatment with low hardening temperatures and single tempering. However, this characteristic tempering behaviour limits the use of advanced coatings. The material has a good hardening response, but only moderate through hardenability. BÖHLER K460 is used for punching and cutting tools, plastic molds, thread cutting tools and machine knives in the wood, paper and recycling industries.
Read MoreBÖHLER K490 MICROCLEAN is a high-performance cold work tool steel with a balanced property profile, manufactured using powder metallurgy. This powder metallurgical tool steel offers an outstanding combination of high wear resistance, compressive strength, toughness and very good machinability. Thanks to the resulting flexibility, BÖHLER K490 MICROCLEAN is used in virtually all cold work applications, and in many cases this material is the first choice for newly developed tools. The commonly used hardening temperatures of BÖHLER K490 MICROCLEAN also enable shared heat treatment with popular cold work tool steels (1.2379, D2), making it very economical in terms of heat treatment.
Read MoreBÖHLER K600 corresponds to the material 1.2767 (45NiCrMo16). With its high nickel content, this material offers a very good combination of through hardenability and toughness. This results in a high resistance to impact and shock loads. BÖHLER K600 is used for a wide range of tools where high toughness is required. The material is used for forming and bending tools, cold shear blades for thick materials and for reinforcement rings. Due to its good polishability, BÖHLER K600 is also used for embossing tools, plastic molds and mold inserts for injection molding.
Read MoreBÖHLER K601 corresponds to the material 1.2746 (45NiCrMoV16 6). The alloy concept of this tool steel is similar to 1.2767. With its high nickel content, this material offers a very good combination of through hardenability and toughness. Additional alloying with vanadium and molybdenum achieves higher resistance to abrasive wear. This material is used where high resistance to impact and shock loads is required and the wear resistance of a 1.2767 material is insufficient. The material is used in applications such as highly stressed industrial knives in the recycling industry.
Read MoreBÖHLER K605 is approximately equivalent to the material 1.2721 (~50NiCr13). The alloy concept of this tool steel is similar to the one of 1.2767. With its high nickel content, this material offers a very good combination of through hardenability and toughness. The higher carbon content compared to material 1.2721 results in a better hardening response and consequently higher compressive strength. The material is used in applications such as forming, bending and embossing tools.
Read MoreBÖHLER K720 is corresponds to the material 1.2842 (90MNCRV8, ~O2). This material is suitable for simple heat treatment with low hardening temperatures and single tempering. However, this characteristic tempering behaviour limits the use of advanced coatings. The material has a good hardening response, but only moderate through hardenability. BÖHLER K720 is used for punching and cutting tools, plastic molds, thread cutting tools and machine knives in the wood, paper and recycling industries.
Read MoreBÖHLER K888 MATRIX – This MATRIX steel offers an excellent combination of high toughness and high compressive strength. MATRIX materials have high toughness, which is a critical factor in many applications. However, the hardness achievable with commonly used MATRIX steels often limits the potential applications. BÖHLER K888 MATRIX breaks through this barrier and offers the best of both worlds of matrix steels and high alloy tool steels. BÖHLER K888 MATRIX is a unique problem solver in situations where high compressive strength and toughness are required. Its advantageous tempering behavior with a pronounced secondary hardness maximum also enables the use of advanced coatings.
Read MoreBÖHLER K890 MICROCLEAN is a high-performance cold work tool steel manufactured using powder metallurgy. It features good toughness, very high compressive strength and excellent fatigue strength. This favorable combination of properties can avoid chipping damages to tools. BÖHLER K890 MICROCLEAN is not only used in cold work applications, but also in mold making.
Read MoreBÖHLER M300 is a prehardened corrosion-resistant martensitic chromium steel that can be tempered to a higher strength due to its carbon content. Due to the alloying with chromium and molybdenum, BÖHLER M300 has very good corrosion resistance and good wear resistance and is therefore suitable for molds for processing chemically aggressive molding compounds (e.g. PVC).
Read MoreBÖHLER M303 is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with very good toughness, corrosion resistance, good wear resistance and improved machinability and polishability. Compared to 1.2316, BÖHLER M303 has better homogeneity and is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M303HIGHHARD corresponds to BÖHLER M303 in the High-Hard product variant. A variation in the heat treatment enables significantly higher wear resistance.
Read MoreBÖHLER M303 ISOPLAST corresponds to a remelted BÖHLER M303 . The variation in the production route enables greater toughness and polishability thanks to higher purity and improved homogeneity. Also available as product variant BÖHLER M303HH ISOPLAST (high-hard variant).
Read MoreBÖHLER M310 ISOPLAST is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel which, through electroslag remelting and optimization of the chemical composition, has a good homogeneity and a balanced hardness-toughness-corrosion resistance ratio.
Read MoreBÖHLER M314 is a prehardened, corrosion-resistant martensitic plastic mold steel which, due to its chemical composition, has very good machinability and uniform strength over the entire cross-section.
Read MoreBÖHLER M315 is a prehardened, corrosion-resistant martensitic plastic mold steel. Due to its chemical composition, BÖHLER M315 has improved machinability compared to 1.2085 and is approved for food contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M333 ISOPLAST is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic plastic mold steel with excellent polishability and toughness for products with highest surface requirements. BÖHLER M333 ISOPLAST is also approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M340 ISOPLAST corresponds to a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with improved wear resistance. This is ideal for the application area of glass fiber reinforced plastics. In addition, the BÖHLER M340 ISOPLAST is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M368 MICROCLEAN is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel produced by powder metallurgy. Due to the alloy concept and the production route, the steel has a high wear resistance, high corrosion resistance and high toughness. In addition, BÖHLER M368 MICROCLEAN is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M380 ISOPLAST is a high-nitrogen alloyed, corrosion-resistant, martensitic plastic mold steel electro-slag remelted under pressure with excellent corrosion resistance, very good polishability and very high toughness combined with a high hardness of up to 60 HRC. In addition, BÖHLER M380 ISOPLAST is approved for contact with food and beverage.
Read MoreBÖHLER M390 MICROCLEAN is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel produced by powder metallurgy. Due to its alloy design, this steel has very high wear resistance and good corrosion resistance. In addition, BÖHLER M390 MICROCLEAN is approved for food and beverage contact.
Read MoreBÖHLER M398 MICROCLEAN is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel produced by powder metallurgy. Due to its alloy design, this steel has good corrosion resistance and higher wear resistance compared to BÖHLER M390 MICROCLEAN.
Read MoreHardenable Cr– and Mo alloyed steel grade with additions of Vanadium and Nitrogen with excellent corrosion resistance especially in sea water and chloric medias.
Read MoreBÖHLER N685 is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with a high carbon content and molybdenum and vanadium additives.
Read MorePressplates for the production of decorative and technical laminates (electronic industry) Carrier Plates for the production of decorative and technical laminates
Read MoreBÖHLER S390 MICROCLEAN – “The decathlete” This grade is our PM steel with many positive usage properties. For twist drills, taps, mills, broaches, or cold-work applications, BÖHLER S390 MICROCLEAN is always a high performer.
Read MoreBÖHLER S500 – “The fireproof one” In the family of conventional high-speed steels, this alloy combines excellent cutting properties with very high hot hardness.
Read MoreBÖHLER S600 – “The high-speed steel” Ideal for mills, twist drills, and taps, broaches, cold-work tools. BÖHLER S600 is the most commonly used high-speed steel and is the starting material for our customers who deal with high-speed steel.
Read MoreBÖHLER S607 – “The wear-resistant one” This grade has very high wear resistance while maintaining high toughness and perfectly acceptable machinability.
Read MoreBÖHLER S690 MICROCLEAN – “The simple one” The tough high-speed steel for challenging machining and cold forming.
Read MoreBÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC is a material produced by the electroslag remelting process (ESR), which has been specially adapted for use at high tool hardnesses in the range of 51-57 HRC. Although the steel can be classified as a 5% chromium steel, the increased carbon and molybdenum content coupled with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology ensures that BÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC still shows a very good toughness and an exceptionally good thermal resistance, even at high hardness levels. These properties make the steel the perfect choice for smaller components in the die casting sector (e.g., mold inserts, cores, core pins, ejector pins, etc.). The material also is frequently the preferred choice for closed-die and open-die forging tools due to its high wear resistance. Because of this excellent wear resistance and the high toughness, BÖHLER W360 ISOBLOC is also frequently used for cold work applications and as a molding material for plastic injection molds. The Steel also is available as powder material for metal-3D-printing under the brand name BÖHLER W360 AMPO.
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