Micro-Melt® 20-4

Micro-Melt® 20-4 alloy is a highly wear and corrosion resistant, air hardening martensitic cold-work stainless die steel produced using Carpenter Technology's powder metallurgy (P/M) process. Its uniform microstructure, fine carbide distribution, cleanliness and high chromium content, is responsible for the material's excellent combination of wear resistance, toughness, polishability, and corrosion resistance that can reduce tooling requirements by as much as 75% compared to conventional tooling. The excellent wear resistance of the alloy is provided by a significant volume fraction of hard vanadium-rich carbides, while the alloy's outstanding corrosion resistance is obtained as a result of the chromium-rich matrix. The application of Micro-Melt processing creates a segregation-free and homogeneously fine carbide and grain size distribution, and when coupled with the use of molten metal filtration, results in improved cleanliness and toughness compared to conventionally cast and wrought processed material