440-C + Vanadium

Hoplophile,
It turns into 440C with Vanadium. I do not know of any such existing or obsolete alloys built like that. (That doesn't mean there aren't/weren't any.) The only reasons it would not be 440V is the vanadium content is not specified and it would have to be a CPM made steel first. How much V are we talking about?
If it is an alloy of your own design, you might call it, 440CM or 440C-M or M440C, as in '440C modified'. :cool: Just a thought. Why do you ask anyway? Have you found some?

-Jason
 
I inquired about the "Vanadium steel" blades that TKS sells. I asked what steel they were made of and the reply I got was "440-C with Vanadium added for strength". Sounded kinda, well, weird to me. 440-C is an alloy with a specific content, right? So adding another metal to the alloy would make it a completely different steel, right? What would the draw backs be, if any, of this odd ball alloy? They have a huge Bowie I was thinking of doing a project with but 440-C + Vanadium sounded like a round about way of saying "420 J-2 'cept diffrent.'
 
I inquired about the "Vanadium steel" blades that TKS sells. I asked what steel they were made of and the reply I got was "440-C with Vanadium added for strength". Sounded kinda, well, weird to me. 440-C is an alloy with a specific content, right? So adding another metal to the alloy would make it a completely different steel, right? What would the draw backs be, if any, of this odd ball alloy? They have a huge Bowie I was thinking of doing a project with but 440-C + Vanadium sounded like a round about way of saying "420 J-2 'cept diffrent.'
Click to expand...

You are correct. 440C is a specific alloy. 440C w/ vanadium is either a modified version of 440C or an entirely different alloy. I cannot see any immediate drawbacks, because "with Vanadium added for strength" is quite vague. That can be both entirely true and entirely erroneous at the same time depending on your standpoint.

Typically when you find a modified steel "w/ vanadium" it is often added within .15-.20%. This is usually done to get a slightly higher austenitizing temperature without coarsening the microstructure. That means you can heat it higher to get more "strength" and or hardness upon quench. Without that addition of vanadium and using the higher heat, you get a coarser grained steel. Not a pleasant thing in this case. The V addition is neither good nor bad compared to standard 440C, I feel this alloy was designed to be heated higher though. Vanadium is most often used for what will become a "fine grain" effect. You might consider asking them specifically its name or alloy content at least because, technically, CPM440V is also known as "AISI 440C modified". But, that is an entirely different beast than simple and low additions of V.

There are more specifics to the vanadium addition but this is the primary one.

-Jason
 
The steel might be AUS6 or AUS8.

Both are often sold as 'like or similar to 440c', contain Vanadium and very common in manufacturing of imported pre-finished blades.

There are many variants of USA steel made overseas, which have great utility and use in cutlery.
 
The answer I got was AUS-10.
AUS-10.............. C - 1.1
SI-1.00
MN-1.00
P - .04
S - .03
NI-
CR-17.0
MO-.75
V -
Never heard of it. Anybody got any info on it's performance in large blades?
 
You show no Vanadium content there. Is that an oversight, or were they BS'n you about the Vanadium ? :confused:
 
If I recall correctly both Spyerco and Cold Steel make or have made knives with AUS-10. Syderco's steel chart lists the V % as 0.1-0.27.

Lynn
 
Junglee, the only other knife company I could find that uses it, has the Vanadium content as .25%.
No, I didn't omit the Vanadium content. That is exactly what TKS sent me.
 
Then I suspect that something ain't right with this.
Their information to you is not consistant. :confused:
 
What Mike said. :cool: I'm skeptical. If it was AUS-10, then they should've just plain told you that is what it was. AUS-10 is NOT 440C w/ vanadium, it is AUS-10. AISI 440C does not have so much silicon and manganese. And yes, the amounts are that significant to make a difference in working with the material.

-Jason
 
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