A572 Steel for Dies

Jonathans

Jonathans

Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
588
I have been offered a 14" x 16" x 1.25" chunk of A572 steel. It was originally purchased as a winch foundation.

Although I was told that it was a hard alloy, I can't really see where the properties are much different than A36 mild steel.

Can someone tell me whether this material will be better to use for power hammer and hydraulic press dies than mild steel?
 
A572 is Grade 50 50,000 psi tensile material. It's not hard or hardenable. Whether it would be better than 1018 or A36 is hard to say, in respect of using it for dies it's essentially their equivalent. My press dies happen to be grade 50 because we use thousands of tons of it at work.
 
It is basically the new and improved a36. Sometimes you can get dual certs on it. It is now the norm for structural steel. It's basically a little cleaner and has tighter alloy ranges.
 
It's a structural steel that's considerably stronger than A36 (about 40% stronger). Typical yield strength is about 50,000 psi minimum, and tensile strength is about 70,000 psi. Most plate I've seen of it is dual certified as A36/A572. I heard a rumor years ago that it's not worth the effort for most mills in the USA to make single cert A36. No idea if it would be strong enough for your use. It's pretty stout though, as structural steels without further heat treatment go.
 
A36 sees plenty of work yet as a lot of pressure applications require it and won't allow dual.
 
I’ve had decent results with dies made from mild steel actually as long as I don’t try to work cold.
I’ll give this stuff a try when I need some dies and see how it holds up.
Thanks for the input. Some day I’ll slurge for some real metal.
 
I don't see the point. Even H13 doesn't hold up very well. I'd rather cheap.
 
What is the stuff that they make the decking on oil rigs from? I talked to a smith who used that for his Little Giant dies and he said it was very good.
 
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