The "Killer V's"

Since 1970, Crucible has been producing highly alloyed premium high speed steels, using their proprietary
CPM (Crucible Particle Metallurgy) process. The fine structures that result from rapid solidification in the CPM process offer premium characteristics which are highly favorable for the manufacturing of woodturning tools.

ARE GLASER TOOLS CRYOGENICALLY TREATED?

ABSOLUTELY!
It has been a priority of our company to MAINTAIN Jerry’s specifications on the manufacturing of his tools.


WHAT DOES CRYOGENIC PROCESSING DO?
It literally changes the crystal structure of materials. The major results of these changes are enhancements in wear and fatigue resistance.

Jerry Glaser was the first to recognize the tremendous potential and advantages of CPM steels produced by Crucible (a CET strategic partner) and also to implement CRYOGENIC TREATMENT in all CPM Steels (10V and 15V) as well as M2 and M4.

Being an innovator and pioneer, Jerry Glaser was able to determine the “proper cryogenic temperatures” which enhanced the already superior properties of all Crucible’s Materials.

It has been known for many years that cold will cause retained austenite to change to martensite. (The terms austenite and martensite refer to the way the carbon atoms relate to the ferrous atoms in the crystal lattice structure. A lot of people try to talk about the "molecular" structure of metals. Metals are metals because they are crystalline in nature. The crystal structure is what gives the metals their ability to conduct heat and electricity, their ability to plastically deform, and their ability to be hardened.) This can be verified through publications such as Machinery's Handbook, ASM's Metals Handbook and more. Even the best heat treating facility will leave somewhere between ten and twenty percent retained austenite in ferrous metals. Because austenite and martensite have different size crystal structures, there will be stresses built in to the crystal structure where the two coexist.

The proper Cryogenic Processing eliminates these stresses by converting most of the retained austenite to martensite. If the right cryogenic treatment is not used, there is the possibility of the increased presence of retained austenite. This is because the austenitic crystals are about 4% smaller than the martensitic crystals due to their different crystal structure. After a lot of research and experimentation, Jerry Glaser has defined the right temperature for the cryogenic treatment, thus avoiding this problem.

But his genius does not stop there! Jerry also used a “cryogenic bath” BEFORE the heat treatment procedure in order to avoid distortion of metal DURING heat treatment. Research shows that impurities such as water and water molecules interfere with the molecular structure in ways that were previously unknown. Because of water's different properties at different temperatures and pressures, water is the enemy of consistent molecular bonding.

Cryogenic Processing is not a substitute for heat-treating.

Cryogenic processing will not in itself harden metal like quenching and tempering. It is not a substitute for heat treatment. Most alloys will not show much of a change in hardness due to cryogenic processing. Jerry believed that the double cryogenic treatment applied to his tools would significantly increase the abrasion resistance and the fatigue resistance of his tools and prevent metal distortion during treatment.

 

Superior Properties

The increased toughness of CPM high speed steels not only provides greater resistance to breakage (particularly valuable in intermittent cut operations), but it also allows a tool to be hardened by 0.5 to 1.0 points higher on the Rockwell C scale without sacrificing toughness. Both longer tool life and higher cutting speeds can be realized.

CPM offers improved grindability with no reduction in wear resistance of the tool. This means reduced grinding-wheel wear. Grinding can be done more quickly with less danger of damage to the cutter, and it leaves an edge that produces a smoother finish on the work piece.

Greater consistency and Finer Carbide Size & Distribution in heat treatment and uniformity of properties of CPM high speed steels. For the same reason the carbides are fine and uniformly distributed, so are any sulfides that are formed. With that in mind, Crucible takes advantage of this characteristic to re-sulfurize to high sulfur levels where enhanced machinability is required without significantly affecting the toughness properties. The differences in microstructural control between CPM and conventionally ingot-cast high alloy tool steels of the same composition can have a decisively beneficial influence on the steel’s behavior in certain tool manufacturing operations as well as on tool performance. Specifically, these potential benefits include:

# Better annealed machinability
# More consistent and safer heat treat response
# Significantly improved grindability
# Good toughness characteristics
# Larger size capability in full length bars

In general, red hardness increases with total alloy content and particularly with alloys responsible for high attainable hardness. There is a strong effect of increasing cobalt content on heat treat response and temper resistance. Thus M2 for example with less than 20% total alloy content, no cobalt, and an attainable hardness of 64-66 HRC, is at the low end of the red hardness curve.

Wear resistance is affected by the heat treated hardness, but more importantly it is a function of the amount and type of hard alloy carbide present in the structure of the material. Of the alloying elements generally found in high speed steels, vanadium forms the most wear resistance carbides followed in decreasing order of effectiveness by tungsten, molybdenum, and chromium. Thus, although wear resistance tends to increase with total alloy content and attainable hardness, there are notable peaks in the wear resistance curve at the high vanadium compositions.

Toughness generally decreases with increased alloy content, particularly for the high cobalt, higher attainable hardness materials. However, the CPM high speed steels are consistently tougher than their conventional counterparts. Thus, some of the higher alloy CPM-produced grades may be as tough as, or tougher than, lower alloy conventionally-produced grades.
For more information about steel properties, please visit www.crucible.com.

All of the years of experimentation and proven results makes Glaser Hitec tools far “superior” than any other product available in the market today. We strive to follow Jerry’s guidelines in the production of his tools.