Hardness and toughness of industrial tools

Industrial tools are commonly used to cut or crush a variety of materials. From food and plastics to hard metal materials, they are often used to reduce the size and process a variety of materials. Due to the wide range of applications, the pressure on the cutting edge is also different, so it is necessary to choose the right tool material to achieve the required cutting effect and extend the service life of the cutting edge or blade.

We try to combine cutting edge wear resistance with toughness. The perfect tool should be able to hold the cutting edge for a long time, but also have the toughness to withstand great pressure without breaking. For these two characteristics, hardness and toughness are currently used as guiding standards

hardness

There are many scientific methods for measuring hardness, but for industrial tools, the most widely used method is Rockwell hardness. In general, the higher the Rockwell hardness of a tool, the stronger its wear life or wear resistance. However, if other sources of wear are involved in addition to friction, such as chemical erosion, which is common in the working environment, then this measurement method may not provide a good guide.

toughness

For the toughness of industrial tools, there is no exact measurement standard. Transverse fracture strength is one of the best measures, this measurement method is only partial information, TRS reading provides the best and simplest guide, the higher the TRS reading, the more ductile the tool is likely to be. Other indicators such as Young's modulus of elasticity can also provide guidance.

However, hardness and transverse fracture strength are usually inversely related. The higher the hardness of the material, the more brittle it is, and the lower the TRS it usually has.

To solve this problem, alloy materials with different wear and toughness characteristics can be used to obtain different performance standards. Other factors to consider include blade handling, coating, plating, and other material strengthening processes. All of these will affect the toughness and hardness of the tool.