Pre-hardened special steel for flawless surfaces

Plastic products in the automotive industry such as headlights and windshields have to be crystal clear and accurately shaped in order to function reliably. The prerequisites are permanently flawless steel mold frames. Finkl Steel from Schmolz + Bickenbach has presented the new tool steel solutions "SF-2000LQ40" and "SF-2050". They are characterized by their high-gloss polishability and uniform hardness in the delivery condition. At the same time, they can be machined efficiently and retain their shape over the long term.

The tool steel grades offer a high consistency and homogeneity in their mechanical properties. With an extremely low sulfur content and selected micro-alloying elements a good machinability and high polishability is achieved. The hardness is already in the delivery condition at 40 HRC. Additional heat treatments are eliminated, which benefits the processability and dimensional stability.

The SF-2000LQ40 is manufactured using the electroslag remelting process (ESR) and has improved purity. This makes it suitable, among other things, for large-format applications in which a flawless surface quality is required, including molds for lenses and other applications that require highly polished surfaces.

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Both materials can also be used for molds with high production numbers as well as injection molds for abrasive and fiber-reinforced plastics. For particularly large plastic molds such as bumpers, the steel expert offers the pre-hardened tool steel SF-2000. This is available in dimensions up to 2130 mm x 1245 mm. Users benefit from comparatively short lead times and long tool life.

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