A viewer asked during the live stream: What type of die steel should be used for stamping 2.0mm-thick TC4 sheet metal?
Someone asked this same question during the last live stream as well, which shows that many people are encountering problems with this type of application.
Many people underestimate the stamping of TC4 titanium sheets, assuming it’s just ordinary material stamping. However, using standard die steel results in insufficient wear resistance, leading to rapid wear and burrs on the finished products. Ordinary high-speed steel has a hardness of HRC 62–64, which provides adequate wear resistance, but it suffers from severe segregation and numerous microcracks, causing adhesive wear due to material buildup—resulting in burrs after only a few stamped parts.
Many people are puzzled by these differences and don’t know how to resolve them.
TC4 is a titanium alloy with a high total alloy content. The material is very ductile, with a hardness approaching 40 HRC and excellent strength and toughness. It is very difficult to stamp; the fracture zone is prone to adhesion and burr formation, placing extremely high demands on the die steel’s wear resistance and non-stick properties. When stamping 2.0-thick plates—especially thick, hard materials—it is essential to consider not only wear resistance but also resistance to chipping and non-stick properties. The steel grade that can simultaneously meet these three major performance requirements is PM23 powdered high-speed steel.
PM23 is a powder-metallurgically produced high-speed steel. Thanks to its advanced powder metallurgy manufacturing process, it eliminates microstructural segregation and microscopic cracks, preventing material adhesion and severe scoring during the punching process while also enhancing the die steel’s resistance to chipping. PM23 has a hardness of HRC 64–66, combining high hardness and high strength with the benefit of non-stick properties, making it the ideal choice for stamping 2.0-thick TC4 titanium alloy.
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Wu Dejian’s tool steel, the chief of staff of the user, bought everything he had used.