Tool Steel
Hardened steel alloys (A2, D2, S7, H13) designed for high wear resistance and toughness. Used for injection mold tooling, die components, and cutting tools.
About Tool Steel
Tool steels are specialty alloys engineered for extreme hardness, wear resistance, and toughness at elevated temperatures. They are the backbone of the tooling, die, and mold industry — and FabRapid machines them in both pre-hardened and fully hardened states.
We work with air-hardening (A2), cold-work (D2), shock-resisting (S7), and hot-work (H13) tool steels. Each grade is optimized for specific tooling applications — H13 for die casting dies that experience thermal cycling, D2 for stamping dies requiring maximum wear resistance, and S7 for impact-loaded tools.
Machining hardened tool steel (> 50 HRC) requires specialized equipment, rigid setups, and CBN (cubic boron nitride) or ceramic tooling. FabRapid has the expertise and equipment to machine tool steels up to 62 HRC with tolerances to ±0.01 mm.
Material Properties
Available Alloy Grades
A2
Air-hardening cold-work tool steel with good toughness and dimensional stability during heat treatment. Hardness: 57-62 HRC.
Blanking dies, coining dies, gauges, mandrels
D2
High-carbon, high-chromium cold-work tool steel with excellent wear resistance. Hardness: 60-62 HRC. Semi-stainless.
Stamping dies, slitter knives, forming rolls, wear plates
S7
Shock-resisting tool steel with outstanding impact toughness. Hardness: 54-56 HRC.
Chisels, punches, rivet sets, shear blades
H13
Hot-work tool steel with excellent resistance to thermal fatigue and heat checking. Hardness: 44-52 HRC.
Die casting dies, extrusion dies, hot forging dies, injection mold cores
Compatible Manufacturing Processes
Tool Steel can be processed using these manufacturing methods.
Available Surface Finishes
Surface treatments compatible with Tool Steel.
Common Applications
Design Guidelines for Tool Steel
Design for EDM accessibility on features that cannot be machined in hardened state (deep ribs, sharp corners)
Specify pre-hardened steel (28-32 HRC) when possible — it machines much faster and cheaper than fully hardened
Internal corner radii must accommodate the EDM electrode size — minimum R0.1 mm for wire EDM
Allow 0.1-0.2 mm grinding stock on critical surfaces when parts will be heat treated after machining
Tool Steel FAQ
Yes. FabRapid can machine hardened tool steels up to 62 HRC using CBN (cubic boron nitride) tooling and specialized high-rigidity setups. Hard machining is more expensive than pre-hardened machining but eliminates grinding operations and achieves excellent dimensional accuracy.
D2 is a cold-work tool steel optimized for maximum wear resistance at room temperature (60-62 HRC). H13 is a hot-work tool steel designed to withstand thermal cycling and maintain strength at elevated temperatures (up to 540°C). Use D2 for stamping and cutting dies; H13 for die casting, extrusion, and hot forging.
Specify the desired final hardness range (e.g., 58-60 HRC), the heat treatment method (through-hardening, case-hardening), and any tempering requirements. FabRapid can arrange heat treatment through our qualified partners with full certification.
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