Question for the forum metallurgists

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Lucky Bob

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Mar 31, 2006
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I'm trying to do a set of finite element analysis simulations of varying folding knife locks, and coming up against a big roadblock: I can't find physical properties (specifically tensile and compressive yield stresses) for the atypical/modern stainless steels used in that kind of application. I looked at manufacturer's datasheets (checked Crucible, Hitachi, Sandvik) and didn't find any information about yield stresses. I also checked the reference section of my school's engineering library, (the reference book was ASM's Handbook of Metals Vol. 3, 9th edition, published 1980) but the closest alloy I could find information for was 440C at 57 HRC, when I would prefer to find information for one of S30V, ATS-34, CPM-154, VG10, etc (any of the modern but not cutting-edge/super-exotic stainless) at the high end of each of their recommended usable hardnesses.

Now, the real question is: do any of you know where I could find the information I'm looking for, OR would that just be an incredible amount of work relative to the increase in precision over just using the data from 440C at 57 HRC?

Thanks in advance to y'all for helping me out!
 
The steels are for the most part tool steels and the interest is in toughness and wear resistance not tensile strength.If you were going to approximate you could use the hardness/ tensile stregth conversion numbers. Otherwise you could ask the maker for the info.
Why do you need steel info if you're looking at different locking designs ? There are already many variables there .
What school are you going to ? I went to what was Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.The they changed the name and dropped metallurgy !! Were they trying to tell me something ?
 
Well, let me answer your questions first. I'm interested in the steel's properties since it is always one actor (or more, depending on the lock/design) in the lock interaction (and yes, there are many variables, but the vast majority of them are taken care of in the computer's modeling process, I believe.)

I'm going to Alfred University, out in the sticks of Western NY. (And yes, mete, they were :p)

Hardness/tensile strength conversion or approximation? I'd be more than willing to settle for something like that, but the Materials prof I talked to said those were only good for simple carbon steels, although I may have misunderstood him.
 
There is a lot of good information available on D2, which is not a simple carbon steel. It is a complex steel with 11% chrome.

Off the top of my head, I think the compressive yield strength was 319KSI at HRC61. But there is a lot of data on that steel, and I think it fits your mold fairly well, being a high chrome, high carbide steel.
 
Rule of thumb we used when estimating properties of tool steels was tensile will follow the hardness estimation pretty well. Compressive yield strength is approximately 10% higher than tensile. Yield for high alloy tool steels is 85% to 90% of the tensile depending on how close you are to the maximum hardness. The lower the hardness the lower the yield strength. The reason for little actual data is the limitations of the tensile testing machines to handle high tensile specimens. 300 plus KSI is a lot of force especially when it finally lets go. Please keep in mind this is estimation but will get you close when doing calculations
 
you may find some useful data on this site:
http://www.matweb.com/search/PropertySearch.aspx
I use it all the time!
I was able to find S30V, but not the others you were looking for. however there is tons of data for other high carbon steels! you should be able to get a pretty good idea of the properties you are looking for!
hope it helps!!
peace
jt
 
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