A practical selection catalog for mold makers, tool designers, and manufacturing engineers. Compare material families, explore typical applications, and review tempering behavior before you finalize a specification.
Search aliases, grades, and use cases. “Best fit” describes a common starting point, not a universal winner. Some families have multiple product variants and delivery conditions.
Select up to three grades in the catalog. Compare typical fit and engineering tradeoffs.
Choose the job, work material, and main problem. The shortlist ranks relevant catalog entries using a transparent screening map.
Use this to narrow the field before reviewing supplier data.
Based on your application, work material, and main challenge.
Select any catalog grade to view its reference graph or prehardened-grade guidance. / Selecciona cualquier grado del catálogo para ver su gráfica de referencia o la guía para grados preendurecidos.
Selection is a system decision: substrate, geometry, heat treatment, surface finishing, cooling, and maintenance all affect performance.
For ordinary thermoplastics, a prehardened mold steel can simplify machining and avoid a post-machining hardening distortion loop. For corrosive resins or wet service, evaluate a corrosion-resistant grade and the full cooling-channel environment.
Blanking, fine blanking, and forming tools fail through different mechanisms. High abrasion can justify higher wear resistance; thin edges, interrupted cuts, or hard sheet may make chipping resistance and toughness decisive.
Die-casting and forging tools see surface heat checks, wash, temper-back, and crack growth. Hot-work steels are selected for hot strength, toughness, thermal fatigue resistance, and manufacturability as a combined profile.
| Engineering need | Common starting point | What to verify next |
|---|---|---|
| General injection mold, prehardened | Modified P20 family (e.g. 1.2311 / 1.2312 / 1.2738 product variants) | Block size, through-section hardness, polish/etch requirements, and delivery condition |
| Large mold blocks / higher strength | Nickel-modified prehardened mold steel (e.g. 1.2738 class) | Core hardness, dimensional uniformity, producer-specific limits and available block dimensions |
| Corrosive resin or damp storage | Prehardened stainless mold steel (e.g. 1.2316 class) | Actual resin chemistry, chloride exposure, cooling water, surface finish, and corrosion maintenance |
| Glass/mineral-filled polymer | Wear-resistant cavity inserts; evaluate hardened hot-work or PM grades by local wear | Fiber contact, gate/runner velocity, insert repair, corrosion, hardness, coating feasibility |
| Aluminum die casting / hot forming | H13 / 1.2344 family | Steel quality route, section size, tempering range, thermal fatigue and heat-check history |
| Blanking high-strength sheet | D2 for many standard jobs; PM cold-work grade if wear/chipping balance is limiting | Sheet strength, thickness, clearance, edge geometry, coating, press dynamics and failure photos |
| Drills, broaches, taps, saw teeth | M2 / 1.3343 high-speed steel | Cutting speed, coolant, grind burn, edge preparation, tempering cycle and hot hardness |
Use this as a process-planning checklist. The exact cycle belongs to the chosen producer, furnace, part size, and required properties.
Call out grade, applicable standard, product form, melting route/quality, delivery condition, and certificate requirements.
Set stock allowance, rough-machine sequence, stress relief, sharp-corner control, and EDM/grinding strategy.
Specify the current technical sheet, section size, austenitizing condition, quench capability, temper count, and target hardness range.
Record hardness at agreed locations; check distortion, cracks, surface condition, and representative coupons where needed.
No. D2 / 1.2379 / X153CrMoV12 are common cross-references, but cleanliness, carbide structure, product route, size, and guaranteed properties vary by mill and product variant. Specify the exact standard and producer requirement.
Many P20-class mold steels are supplied prehardened for direct machining. Do not assume a hardening cycle is needed or safe. Follow the specific grade’s delivery condition and supplier’s post-machining instructions.
Use the chart to understand the trend and use it only as a visual trend. Final temperature, time, cycle count, quench, and target hardness must come from the current technical sheet for the exact grade and a qualified heat-treater procedure.
Grade and standard, producer preference, certificate/traceability needs, form and finished dimensions, delivery condition, hardness target, required testing, quantity, destination, and whether saw cutting or machining is needed.
This standalone guide contains no outbound page links. Grade-family cross-references are common industry references, not certifications or guaranteed substitutions. Confirm the exact specification, product condition, size and properties against current technical documentation before purchase or heat treatment.
The H13, D2 and M2 curves are approximate visual redraws of supplier tempering graphs for named product variants and test conditions. They are not universal AISI curves or tabulated material data. For production decisions, obtain the current heat-treatment chart for the exact alloy and producer, then qualify the cycle on representative material.
