The market is very competitive right now, but I’ve noticed that everyone is competing to improve quality and performance, rather than competing on low prices.
This morning, I received an inquiry regarding a high-strength shaft used for tightening bolts. The current material is 45CrMo1Ni, but the shaft breaks under extreme loads, so they’re looking for a steel with better strength to make the shaft. While researching online, they noticed that LG steel has good toughness—it doesn’t break even when bent by hand—so they reached out to inquire about high-toughness LG die steel.
For mechanical shafts, manufacturers typically use 45 steel, 40Cr, 42CrMo, and similar grades. These structural steels are inexpensive and meet basic requirements. However, many modern shafts are subjected to increasingly higher torque loads, and these conventional steels can no longer meet the high-strength demands, leading to shaft breakage and torsional deformation.
This morning’s situation is no exception. Although we’re currently using 45CrMo1Ni, it still fails to meet the demands under extreme operating conditions, so we need a better material. Often, low-performance products have no market, so everyone wants to produce higher-performance products—ones that stand out from the competition—to win market share. Consequently, everyone is raising the bar, using increasingly better materials.
LG is a proprietary high-toughness die steel developed by Yuhui Company. Its toughness is 8 to 9 times that of DC53, with a hardness of HRC 54–58. It is so tough that it won’t break even if bent by hand. Mr. Huang has verified that high-toughness LG steel, when used to manufacture high-strength gear shafts, cannot be snapped by torsion!
Mr. Huang had previously encountered similar problems. He manufactures high-strength gear shafts and used to use 38CrMoAl and 42CrMo, but due to high torque, they were prone to snapping. At a torque of 2,500, the 42CrMo—tempered to a hardness of HRC 32—suffered from torsional deformation in helical gears. However, when he switched to Yuhui LG die steel, there were no issues—it works very well.
There is market demand for high-performance products, whereas the market is saturated with low-priced, inferior products. The reality of the market is that the better the performance, the less competition there is.
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Wu Dejian’s tool steel, the chief of staff of the user, bought everything he had used.