Japanese PM steels?

[gomipile]

This is the subforum where we talk about steel alloys alone the most often, so I figured I'd post here.

What particle metallurgy steels suitable for cutlery, if any, are made in Japan?

 

[GCG199]

ZDP-189 seems to be one of the most popular Japanese powdered steels.

Spyderco has several models available with it.

I haven't been keeping track of any other Japanese powdered steels though.

 

[gomipile]

Hmm. I was thinking about the increased toughness associated with powder metallurgy. I suppose ZDP-189 would be as brittle as cast iron if it wasn't a PM steel.

In any case, I'm wondering if there are Japanese manufactured functional equivalents of CPM-154, Elmax, M390, etc. which could be used to manufacture blades in Japan and Taiwan without having steel shipped from Europe or the USA.

 

[mesoscopic]

Takefu, maker of VG-10 also makes SG-2 PM steel used in Fallkniven 3G steel knives and some Kershaw Shun Elite line kitchen knives.

And there is SRS-15 another Japanese PM steel for use in kitchen knives.

http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kkchoser/kksteelp2.shtml

 

[The Mastiff]

Cowry X
Cowry Y
OU 31
R2 ( proprietary)
Takefu Super X series ( powder HSS)
Takefu Stainless G1 ( SG1)
Takefu Stainless G2 (SG2)

Lots more though most are made for industrial purposes, not cutlery just like american and european PM steels

 

[gomipile]

Are any of those equivalent to CPM-154 from both a user's and manufacturer's cost/benefit perspective?

 

[pwet]

cowry-y should be pretty close, a bit more carbon and 1,2 V instead of 0,4...