Don't know about Elmax

Everything has at least one flaw in it. The more armchair expert we become, the more entitled we think we are in telling people what quality standard a product should uphold to.
 
"Uddeholm Elmax is a perfectly balanced PM grade which has been designed
to reach a hardness well over 60 HRC with good corrosion resistance and excellent edge retention. The superclean production process combined with small sized powder and carbides guarantees trouble free grinding and polishing. Our process and powder properties also ensure a super fine edge and that it can be ground even at hardness up to 62 HRC. This means that the final grind- ing can be done after hardening, eliminating heat treatment related risks such as distortion and surface decarburization. It also means maximized toughness and a minimized risk for edge chipping."



So is the grinding tool steel pdf directly related to Elmax? Or just tool steels in general?
Serious question because I couldn't read the pdf other than it was from the same supplier.
Also, does the pdf relate to knife blades or plastic injection molds?
As far as I could tell it was mold specific.
 
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cncpro11 said:
"Uddeholm Elmax is a perfectly balanced PM grade which has been designed
to reach a hardness well over 60 HRC with good corrosion resistance and excellent edge retention. The superclean production process combined with small sized powder and carbides guarantees trouble free grinding and polishing. Our process and powder properties also ensure a super fine edge and that it can be ground even at hardness up to 62 HRC. This means that the final grind- ing can be done after hardening, eliminating heat treatment related risks such as distortion and surface decarburization. It also means maximized toughness and a minimized risk for edge chipping."



So is the grinding tool steel pdf directly related to Elmax? Or just tool steels in general?
Serious question because I couldn't read the pdf other than it was from the same supplier.
Also, does the pdf relate to knife blades or plastic injection molds?
As far as I could tell it was mold specific.
Click to expand...

Elmax was developed as a mold steel.

http://www.bucorp.com/elmax_p.htm

Here is the data sheet for Elmax:
http://www.uddeholm.com/files/PB_Uddeholm_elmax_english.pdf

Under Grinding:

"A general grinding wheel recommendation is
given below. More information can be found in
the Uddeholm brochure “Grinding of Tool
Steel”" Page 6.

Therefore I would follow their recommendations in the "Grinding of Tool Steel" no matter the application, knife or mold.
 
Well, I read the pdf.
Since there seems to be an absence of the steel being discolored due to high heat from improper grinding, would it be more plausible to suggest that poor choice of grinding wheel and cutting parameters resulting in grinding cracks would be more likely to have caused failure?
 
cncpro11 said:
Well, I read the pdf.
Since there seems to be an absence of the steel being discolored due to high heat from improper grinding, would it be more plausible to suggest that poor choice of grinding wheel and cutting parameters resulting in grinding cracks would be more likely to have caused failure?
Click to expand...

Hypothesis:
It can happen that the discoloration was removed through buffing, hand satin finish or things like stonewash I believe, but would have to go screw up one of my own knives to test that theory :) (btw not very keen on that!)

Apart from that I think a poor grinding wheel, worn belt, inappropriate cooling fluid etc can affect the steel alloy. That is where QC comes into play. To spot problems like that.

Just my two cents: I had a ZT 0560 on a pass around. Used it for work and Elmax was similar to CPM-S30V for me and in line with comments from Phil Wilson.

http://www.bucorp.com/files/Phil_Wilson_Testimonial.pdf

"Initial cutting tests show ELMAX to be in the same category as C
PM S30V at the same hardness." Page 3.

Sometimes I think our expectations for a "new" steel is so high it will never live up, no matter if it is done perfectly. CPM-S30V suffered similar fate when it was introduced.
 
Marthinus, thank you very much for your patience in answering my questions and also for providing those links.
I bookmarked them for future reference.

One of the drawbacks of working with exotic steel is accounting for all of the different variables that go into processing it to get it to perform as it was intended but according to KAI, they got past the learning curve so it should be smooth going forward.

I wont share my own experience with Elmax other than to say that it did sharpen up to hair whittling with minimal effort, but then I put the knife away and have not used it since.

Personally I am kind of a tried and true type of steel guy. 154cm and vg10 being two of my favorites that seem to work well enough for my uses.
 
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