Forging Ahead With Hybrid Steel • Aerostar Manufacturing

Patrik Ölund explains how the latest addition to a family of steel products is creating new opportunities for near net shape forming operations

Traditionally, steels were classified into four general categories: tool steel, stainless steel, engineering steel and maraging steels. In 2017, the launch of Ovako’s Hybrid Steel created a new family of grades with an innovative alloying philosophy. The result is that the key properties of each category are available in one high-performance steel (Fig.1.).

The family has now grown to include Hybrid Steel 50, a grade that offers exciting possibilities for component manufacturers to dispense with the need for quenched and tempered steel. By using the new grade, they can forge their component to near net shape, machine it in a soft condition and then apply a simple ageing treatment to achieve the final hardness required.

Two well-established precipitate phases are combined to strengthen Hybrid Steel: alloy carbide and inter-metallic. It also uses a creative alloying philosophy that minimises segregation. An important feature is that the significant levels of aluminium enable a strong combination of attractive properties. This is because aluminium reacts with nickel to form very small inter-metallic precipitates, but nearer the surface it also helps to form a protective oxide barrier.