There is a direct relationship between the hardness of steel and its brittleness. To understand you need to understand the terms that work for you first.
We talk about hardness when the steel can not scratch anything (except diamond, we sharpen steel knives) This quality is bad if the knife is not strong - steel with a very high hardness index will break from a light impact. It's fragile
Why is Steel brittle?
Brittleness occurs when steel is heated: despite its high hardness, it has been damaged and cracked under the influence of impact.
Some alloys such as chromium or vanadium will again harden the steel and reduce its strength of the steel.
Any steel itself is an alloy Steel-containing a specified amount of carbon and alloying elements designed to improve the properties of the alloy. If the steel has a high carbon content we call it carbon steel. If there are many additives we call them components but what about "stainless steel"? And stainless steel, unlike carbon steel in general, is a type of steel mixed with large amounts of chromium, for example, if the alloy contains more than 13% of alloying elements such as chromium, it is called corrosion resistant.
visit us: Damascus Hunting Knives
The steel used in the manufacture of cutting tools must be wear-resistant, strong, and of sufficient durability. Therefore, for the manufacture of knife tool steels, in addition to chromium, it is often recommended to use expensive alloying elements. (Manganese, Vanadium, Molybdenum)
Steel hardening method
chemical method
The addition of alloying elements to the composition of steel makes it stronger, for example, many Japanese steel plates contain up to 8% molybdenum, which not only increases strength but also increases steel strength. but also increased toughness which makes the alloy highly valuable.
Another way to increase steel's strength and wear resistance is to add manganese to the alloy. This makes the hull smoother and stronger, plus this mixture is better for sharpening - no matter how finely grained the hull is. Thinner cutting edge. The razor is sharpened as well.
Mechanical method
Now we have decided to configure the ingot. We can turn to a very important method of increasing the strength of steel - tempering. Explain a few steps for working with steel to distinguish between hardening and tempering.
After annealing and machining, the workpiece the steel will harden - it is heated to a certain temperature, the figure is known to be 800 ° C. But it is different for different brands in the absence of equipment. The optimum temperature is determined by the color of the steel heated during solidification: cherry or red is suitable.
Yellow Sometimes shades closer to white indicate that the temperature has exceeded the permissible mark and has reached at least 1300 degrees, and we cool the hot mixture at a certain speed. Then we can work on it - release it and gain strength. But sometimes hot ingredients are not preserved by tempering.
Steel blanks are cooled at different rates in different cooling media: in brine solutions or oils. The steel cannot be cooled with clean water: the cooling rate is too high and cracks may occur in the workpiece. On the contrary, salt reduces the rate of cooling. Which increases the viscosity of the blade.
Now we have very hard stainless. Which only scratched diamonds but we can break them easily they still lack the necessary strength. So you should rest they have the same hardening just repeat and most importantly the temperature is very low. For the manufacture of knives, a low-temperature setting is suitable - up to 250 degrees.
After the knife has hardened, it will be cooled in the same way during the baking process. In brine or oil
