Is Blue Super Steel Actually Super? The Facts about Tungsten-Alloyed Steels

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MULE TEAM 24 MAXAMET
MT24

TECHNICAL SPECS

Maxamet\'s remarkable alloy composition includes: Carbon: 2.15%, Manganese: 0.30%, Sulfur: 0.070%, Silicon: 0.25%, Chromium: 4.75%, Cobalt: 10.00%, Vanadium: 6.00%, and Tungsten: 13.00%.
 
Thanks for putting in the time to write these articles Larrin. I wasn't aware you were until this thread and now I'm caught up and waiting for the next one.

I've been interested in the carbon/tungsten steels for a while. I've had no luck tracking down the "finishing" steels such as F8 other than the usual offers from China to do a 50,000 lb. order for me. I haven't been that interested so far. I guess this group has been left behind by industry so it's not going to be available any time soon. I would like to see F3 even. Is it available from Europe?

Joe
 
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The Mastiff said:
Thanks for putting in the time to write these articles Larrin. I wasn't aware you were until this thread and now I'm caught up and waiting for the next one.

I've been interested in the carbon/tungsten steels for a while. I've had no luck tracking down the "finishing" steels such as F8 other than the usual offers from China to do a 50,000 lb. order for me. I haven't been that interested so far. I guess this group has been left behind by industry so it's not going to be available any time soon. I would like to see F3 even. Is it available from Europe?

Joe
Click to expand...
There is some discussion of availability in this cross-posted thread: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...-facts-about-tungsten-alloyed-steels.1564282/
 
Larrin, let's say for any hardness in the 56-62 range, or, if you require a more narrow range, let's just pick 60.

I think s7 is the clear toughness winner, which is why it's often used in swords ...
But how would you rate the toughest steels next to s7?
 
dirc said:
Larrin, let's say for any hardness in the 56-62 range, or, if you require a more narrow range, let's just pick 60.

I think s7 is the clear toughness winner, which is why it's often used in swords ...
But how would you rate the toughest steels next to s7?
Click to expand...
According to Crucible S5 is tougher than S7:
https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/tooldie/labelle.html
https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/tooldie/crus7xlt.html

I’m not sure it matters which is the toughest. The first priority is to pick a steel in the right “category” for the intended application, and then to heat treat it appropriately. So if the application required high toughness then a high toughness steel should be use. Whether one steel gets 80 ft lbs or 120 ft lbs is probably secondary. Of course I would say the same thing about using S30V vs 20CV/M390 for applications requiring corrosion resistance and wear resistance and there are countless discussions about which is better. In the end there usually isn’t enough data available to figure out which steel is the toughest, most wear resistant, etc. And there will always be new ones to take the crown.
 
Very interesting article. I'm sure that the Japanese knife makers use it because it is a good steel. They don't produce low end knives as far as I know.

I wonder how it compare to my EDC's M4 steel blade.
 
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