I just finished HT on some Elmax, 62rc.
Given the options and being able to utilize my knowledge I can do more with other steels.
Nothing wrong with Elmax.
Elmax just doesn't stand out to me with what I can do with other steels. The carbides are mostly softer chromium rich M7C3 with little to no Vanadium rich MC type. Those carbides in Elmax are also larger than originally thought, so 3rd gen pm is debunked if thinking it makes a smaller structure from supposedly finer powder, BU still makes a very clean product though. I felt Elmax cannot get as hard or stable as other materials due to the limitations of
the chemistry balance.
A good maker can make a good knife with any good steel and Elmax offers more wear than most with easier to sharpen carbides at higher volume than most. Also seems folks usually get access to Elmax a little harder in production knives (60-61rc) than the standard S35VN/S30V at 59-60rc, so I get it.
As a custom maker however I am not at the mercy of whatever these operations churn out and can be maneuverable to what I see and do.
The S45VN is interesting because that chemistry can be put to work in the right hands to offer more MC type, smaller carbides and higher working hardnesses.
Brown bear and Larrin -- two smart guys -- don't seem to like Elmax and rank it lower than other testers; but in my experience (and many custom makers), it's an awesome steel. Before Vanax SuperClean, Elmax was the toughest powder stainless steel on the market. Testing from Bohler confirms that toughness (better than CPM 154), but it's the maker. Bohler shows Vanax SuperClean, another one of its steels, to be 25 percent tougher than Elmax.
Vanax SC is the steel I use in my EDC, and from extensive use and testing, it's my favorite steel. But Elmax is still awesome, and cheaper than Vanax SC. Vanax SC also has the advantage of being super stainless, so you don't lose any edge keeness from corrosion, important for me in the rainforest not far from the sea. And Vanax SC is very fine grained and easy to sharpen to a super sharp edge.
Some of the non-powder stainless steels, such as AEB-L can be tougher, but then you lose a considerable amount of wear resistance. Elmax rocks. Vanax SC rocks and rolls.
OK, I think I found knifesteelnerds' data on Elmax toughness, it's in the same article describing S45VN. I believe CPM-154 is tougher than Elmax.
As an end-user, I am not quite interested in s45vn either, given the data from knifesteelnerds. It seems to be another one mixed in with s30v/s35vn/elmax... I don't know if end-user can even notice the difference among them in EDC use... unless it's significantly cheaper than the rest.
I will be interested in any stainless steel that is tougher than 1095. Currently there are only a few of them.
No free lunch though, to make "tougher" you drop Strength and wear resistance for extension on the permeant plastic deformation region before breaking.
AEBL is certainly tougher than 1095 and one could certainly drop the hardness and beef up the geometry for the ultimate durability.
But the wear resistance would not be great. While we limit the carbides that act as stress risers for crack propagation, with cutting the edge will wear smooth fast. The cutting Geometry needing to be thick will wedge and split rather than cut and the matrix would be too soft to support thin geometry without deformation.
Raw toughness and ductility is not idea for a good cutting knife.
We want Strength, stability, resliance, elasticity not plasticity and some resistance to wear with thin geometry if we want cutting performance
