Same composition for Z wear and PD#1, as well as CPM Cruwear, and a few others. The main difference would be more in how they were heat treated ( temps & times, plus tempered at what temp for how long, plus if Cryoed.)
3V is lower carbon, will be tougher with slightly less wear resistance. It can't do the rc 63-64 hardness's like the Cruwear/PD#1/Z wear as 3V doesn't get a secondary hardening effect from tungsten like the others do. Like all steels PD#1 and Z wear will lose some toughness the higher you run them but gain some wear. They are still pretty tough at rc 63 as compared to most stainless, for instance. At rc 58 they should be 20-30 ft lbs less tough than 3V at the same hardness of course depending on the heat treat given. Rc 58 is great for 3V but a waste of performance for the Z wear/Cruwear/PD#1 class steels.
They are typically used as an upgrade over D2 ( both toughness and wear, less corrosion). They ( PD#1 & family), not 3V ) have some red hardness though not as much as the true high speed steels such as M2, CPM M4, T1, M42, etc.
Wear and toughness in this class is usually somewhere between D2 and CPM M4, slightly less than the 4% vanadium steels such as S30V in general but tougher with higher shock and edge stability.
The whole family is descended from Vascowear.
