Introduction to Common Steel Materials for Molds

A.S55C: Carbon steel for mechanical construction, HRC：15~20。 This steel is the most widely used steel in various industrial applications and is commonly used in templates. 

B.SK-2: Carbon tool steel, with a hardness of HRC: 56~58 after heat treatment. This steel has high hardness and toughness, and is commonly used in blocks, top material pins, etc. 

C..SKS-2: Alloy tool steel, with a hardness of HRC: 54-56 after heat treatment. It has excellent toughness, minimal thermal deformation, and easy processing, and is commonly used in slides, molds, pressure plates, etc. 

D.PDS-3: Tool steel (pre hardened steel), material hardness HRC: 25~35. (Quenching and tempering), does not require reheating treatment, has a uniform structure, does not deform after processing, has excellent surface gloss after grinding, and has excellent bite pattern. It is commonly used in mold kernels (bite patterns), templates, inserts, etc.

E.PDS-5: Tool steel (pre hardened steel), the material itself has a hardness HRC of 30~33. (Tempered), except for slightly harder hardness than PDS-3, other properties are similar to PDS-3. 

FDAC: Tool steel (pre hardened steel), this steel is based on SKD-61 as the basic component, with the addition of fast cutting alloys, which has excellent machinability. The material itself has been quenched and tempered to the most suitable hardness HRC: 40-44. It does not require reheating treatment (to avoid deformation or cracking during heat treatment), has high resistance to thermal cracking, excellent strength at high temperatures, and long mold life. The steel itself uses YSS sea line iron with very low impurities, making it an excellent mold alloy steel commonly used for small mold cores (round).

G.NAK-80: Tool steel (pre hardened steel), material hardness HRC: 41~45. It does not require reheating treatment, and due to the special dissolution applied, it has very few impurities, fine structure, excellent mirror polishing and mold making properties, and also excellent electrical discharge machining properties. It is an excellent steel for molds. Commonly used for molds with mirror requirements. 

H.SKD-61: Tool steel (hot mold steel), the material itself has a hardness of only HRC: 8. After heat treatment, the hardness can reach HRC: 45~50. It has the characteristics of heat shock resistance, heat fatigue resistance, and heat melting resistance, and is commonly used in mold cores, shooting pins, etc. 

I.SKD-11: Tool steel (cold mold steel), the material itself has a hardness of only HRC: 8. After heat treatment, the hardness can reach HRC: 45~50. It has extremely high hardness and toughness, strong wear resistance, and low heat treatment deformation rate, but it is not easy to process. It is commonly used as a mold core for high-precision segmentation molds.

J.SKH-9: High speed steel, with a hardness of HRC: 63 after heat treatment. It has extremely high hardness and wear resistance, and is commonly used for small mold cores and thin, small parts with high precision requirements. 

K.STAVAX: Mirror steel, with a hardness of HRC: 52~54 after heat treatment. This steel is suitable for exterior parts and corrosive raw materials. It has excellent corrosion resistance and can be polished to a mirror finish.

VIKING: After heat treatment, the hardness can reach HRC: 52~54. This steel is suitable for use as a mold core in connector molds and has the characteristics of wear resistance and easy processing.