General Components for Mechanical Engineering

BÖHLER K245 corresponds to the material 1.2101 (62SiMnCr4). This cold work tool steel is essentially a spring steel optimized for cold work, with very good toughness and spring properties. BÖHLER K245 offers the advantage of simple heat treatment with very low hardening temperatures and single tempering. However, this characteristic tempering behaviour limits the use of advanced coatings. BÖHLER K245 is especially suitable for thin-walled tools such as screwdrivers, hole punches, center punches, ejector pins, punches and cutting tools.

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER K700 corresponds to the material 1.3401 (X120Mn12) and belongs to the group of austenitic hard manganese steels. Unlike most tool steels, BÖHLER K700 is not used in the hardened and tempered condition. Due to the forces occurring in service, the resulting work hardening of the surface results in a high resistance to abrasive wear. BÖHLER K700 is weldable. However, the heat input must be kept as low as possible to avoid embrittlement of the material. The material is used in abrasive blasting and mining applications such as crusher jaws, beater bars, grate bars, linings, excavator teeth and chain rollers.

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER M200 is a prehardened, non-corrosion-resistant chromium-manganese-molybdenum alloyed plastic mould steel with very good machinability and uniform strength over the entire cross-section of medium-sized dimensions.

BÖHLER M238 is a prehardened, non-corrosion-resistant plastic mould steel with good machinability. The addition of Ni guarantees uniform strength across the entire cross-section, even with large dimensions (up to 600 mm).

BÖHLER 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).

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER 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).

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER 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.

BÖHLER N360 is a corrosion resistant, martensitic stainless steel, produced using the pressurized-ESR-process ( P-ESR) . Compared to conventionally produced Cr and CrMo steels, BÖHLER N360 offers improved corrosion resistance and toughness properties as well as high hardness and compressive strength. It is typically used for anti-friction bearing components e.g. bearings, ball screws and wear resistant components for use in the engineering and medical industry, e.g. knives and other cutting tools, shafts, plastic extrusion, screw driver, drills, fasteners and engine-components, requiring resistance to both corrosion and wear with hardness not lower than 58 HRC after hardening and tempering, but usage is not limited to such applications.

BÖHLER N685 is a corrosion-resistant steel with molybdenium and vanadium additions in the form of bars, wire, forgings, and forging stock. These products have been used typically for parts in engineering and medical applications requiring hardness up to 58 HRC and resistance to wear, corrosion, and oxidation, but usage is not limited to such applications.

BÖHLER N690 is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with a high carbon content and the addition of cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium. BÖHLER N690 is also approved for food and beverage contact.

BÖHLER N695 is a corrosion-resistant, martensitic chromium steel with a high carbon content and added molybdenum.

BÖHLER N700 is a martensitic, corrosion-resistant, precipitation-hardenable chromium-nickel-copper steel with high strength and toughness. Further increases in strength can be achieved by cold forming and subsequent precipitation hardening. These products are typically used for parts that require higher corrosion resistance than the usual 13% or 17% chromium steels and high strength. Various remelting processes are used to improve steel purity and homogeneity. (ESR, PESR, VAR). Certain processing methods and operating conditions can make these products susceptible to stress corrosion cracking. For applications such as bolting where stress corrosion cracking is possible, the product should be aged for at least 4 hours at the highest temperature compatible with the strength requirements, but in no case lower than 552 °C. Typical engineering applications include surgical and dental instruments as well as aerospace components, reactor construction, highly stressed pump parts, springs and ship shafts.

BÖHLER N701 is a corrosion-resistant steel available in the form of bars, wire, and forgings in the solution-annealed condition. It is a martensitic, precipitation-hardenable chromium-nickel-copper steel with high strength and toughness. Further strength enhancements can be achieved through cold working and subsequent precipitation hardening. These products are typically used for parts that require higher corrosion resistance than conventional 13% or 17% chromium steels and high strength up to 316°C. However, their use is not limited to such applications. The vacuum melting process is used to improve steel purity and homogeneity. Certain processing methods and operating conditions can make these products susceptible to stress corrosion cracking. Typical applications include reactor construction, highly stressed pump parts, springs, ship shafts, plastic injection molds and compression molds, and medical instruments.

BÖHLER W300 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2343 (X37CrMoV5-1). This common tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a high hot hardness and a high resistance against heat-checkings. The combination of these properties makes it a standard choice in extrusion, forging and low-pressure die casting. This material is also available as W300 ISOBLOC which is a remelted grade with improved cleanliness, homogeneity and toughness.

BÖHLER W302 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2344 (X40CrMoV5-1). This common tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a high hot hardness and a high resistance against heat-checkings. The combination of these properties makes it a standard choice in extrusion, forging and low-pressure die casting. This material is also available as W302 ISOBLOC which is a remelted grade with improved cleanliness, homogeneity and toughness.

BÖHLER W303 ISODISC is a 5% chromium steel and corresponds to material number 1.2367 (X38CrMoV5-3). This tool steel has good hot toughness as well as a very high hot hardness and resistance against heat-checkings. Compared to an X37CrMoV5-1 (material number 1.2343), the steel has an increased molybdenum content, which significantly increases its thermal resistance and thus makes it the ideal material in die closed-die forging, open-die forging and extrusion.

BÖHLER W350 ISOBLOC is a material produced by the electroslag remelting process (ESR) which is particularly suitable for use in large casting and forging molds. Although the steel can be classified as a 5% chromium steel, the chemical composition has been chosen to provide the best possible through-hardenability without any loss of toughness or resistance against heat-checkings. These properties make the steel the perfect choice to produce very large die casting molds, for example for mega- or giga-casting.

BÖHLER W400 VMR is a vacuum remelted material specially developed for tools with complex structures. The steel can be assigned to the 5% chromium steels and has a very high purity due to the special manufacturing technology. Because of its high degree of purity, the excellent homogeneity and the special alloying concept, BÖHLER W400 VMR is one of the hot work tool steels with the highest reachable toughness values. Therefore, this material is a problem solver in many areas when standard grades are no longer sufficient. In addition, Böhler W400 VMR has outstanding polishability. For this reason, the steel is also popular as a molding material for plastic injection molds.

BÖHLER W403 VMR is a vacuum remelted material which was developed as a problem solver for tools for where a standard solution is no longer sufficient. The steel can be assigned to the 5% chromium steels and has a very high purity due to the special manufacturing technology. In addition, the increased molybdenum content leads to improved thermal resistance as well as wear resistance, which makes BÖHLER W403 VMR an all-rounder that is often used for highly stressed dies in the die casting sector. In addition, Böhler W403 VMR has outstanding polishability. For this reason, the steel is also popular as a molding material for plastic injection molds.

BÖHLER W460 VMR is a double vacuum arc remelted (VAR) material that has been specially adapted for use in the motorsport sector. The steel purity achieved by this special manufacturing technology, combined with the high strength, ensures that a very high fatigue strength can be guaranteed. The high purity also results in very good polishability, which makes the steel a good choice as a tool material for minting coins.

BÖHLER W720 VMR is not a classic hot work tool steel, but an ultra-high strength maraging steel. Compared to quenched and tempered steels, the material generates its high strength not through a hardened and tempered martensitic structure with a high carbon content and secondary hardening carbides, but through the precipitation of intermetallic phases from a tough nickel martensitic matrix. BÖHLER W720 VMR corresponds to material number 1.6358 (X2NiCoMoTi18-9-5) and has proven to be ideally suited for many tool steel applications in cold and hot work (e.g., for extrusion stems) up to 450 °C.