Alloy steel is made by combining carbon steel with one or several alloying elements. Alloying elements are manganese, silicon, nickel, titanium, copper, chromium and aluminum. The addition of these metals produces specific properties not found in conventional carbon steels.
These elements are added in different
ratios/combinations to give the material different effects such as increased hardness, increased corrosion resistance, increased strength, improved formability, and in addition, weldability is also altered.
The most important and desirable variations of alloy steel are:
1. Enhanced hardenability.
2. Enhanced corrosion resistance.
3. Maintain hardness and strength.
Almost all alloy steels require heat treatment to perform at their best.
Most commonly used alloy grades:
4140: Chrome Molybdenum Steel
4340: nickel chromium molybdenum steel
6150: Chrome Vanadium Steel
8620: HSLA-nickel-chromium-molybdenum steel
