Vacuum Brazed Tungsten Steel and Mold Steel for the Tooling Industry
Physical and Chemical Properties of Tungsten Steel and Mold Steel in Vacuum Brazed Tooling
Tungsten steel and mold steel are widely used in the tooling industry due to their exceptional mechanical and chemical properties. Tungsten steel typically contains 70-90% tungsten (W) with cobalt (Co) as a binder, providing extreme hardness, high wear resistance, and excellent heat stability, ideal for cutting tools, punches, and forming dies. Mold steel usually contains 0.4-1.0% carbon (C), 0.5–2% chromium (Cr), and other alloying elements like nickel (Ni) or molybdenum (Mo), offering toughness, machinability, and dimensional stability necessary for injection molds, stamping dies, and die-casting tools. When these materials are combined through vacuum brazing, the resulting tooling components achieve a balance of wear resistance, chemical stability, and structural integrity, ensuring long tool life and high-precision performance in Indian automotive, plastic molding, and precision engineering industries.
Vacuum Brazing Process for Tungsten Steel and Mold Steel Tooling
The vacuum brazing process begins with thorough cleaning of components to remove oils, oxides, and contaminants. A nickel-based or silver-based brazing paste is typically applied at the joint interface to bond tungsten steel and mold steel. The assembly is then placed inside a vacuum furnace, typically heated between 950°C and 1,100°C under high vacuum conditions around 10⁻⁵ mbar. This oxygen-free environment prevents oxidation, ensures uniform flow of the brazing alloy, and produces strong, defect-free metallurgical bonds. Advantages of vacuum brazing include superior joint strength, excellent wetting, dimensional accuracy, clean surfaces, and extended service life, making it ideal for high-precision tooling applications.
Normantherm Vacuum Furnace Solutions for Vacuum Brazed Tooling
With more than 15 years of experience, Normantherm provides reliable vacuum furnace solutions for Indian tool and die manufacturers. Normantherm furnaces feature precise temperature control, stable vacuum levels, and advanced process monitoring to ensure consistent, high-quality brazed assemblies. This extensive experience helps manufacturers reduce scrap, improve productivity, and achieve globally competitive tooling performance. Normantherm offers a complete solution for producing durable, precision-engineered vacuum brazed tungsten steel and mold steel components.
Editor: Sahera Khatun
Copyright: Normantherm Vacuum Furnace
