Steel Х12МФ: characteristics, reviews

Industrial manufacturing of bearings, stamped and cutting tools is carried out using different grades of steel. Among them a special place is occupied by steel Х12МФ.

The characteristics of this brand are also appreciated by many companies that manufacture only knife products. Today, this material is very popular both among manufacturers and customers of various knife products.

Brand class

In the engineering industry, the main brand is steel Х12МФ. The characteristics of the material differ from the rest of the carbonaceous instrumental marks by the high density of the structure. This type of steel belongs to the class of tool stamped. For a long time it was used only in the manufacture of dies for bending and forming products. Since forged steel Х12МФ has a high resistance to external physical influences, it is used in heavy industry and machine building.

This steel is a high-quality material from which hunting knives are made . As evidenced by numerous reviews of consumers, such cutting products are very strong and do not go dull for a long time, which is important for a hunter. Advantages of the material are taken into account by the manufacturers who use steel X12MF in the production of products.

Properties

The advantages of this brand are:

• High strength;
• Heat resistance;
• Hardenability;
• hardenability;
• Wear resistance;
• Manufacturability.

The latter property is estimated by craftsmen who process steel X12MF. The characteristics of the brand allow it to be processed by cutting, pressure and grinding procedures.

Production

The X12MF grade is used in the manufacture of:

• Profiling rollers having a complex shape;
• Complex hole-piercing matrices, by means of which sheet metal is formed;
• Reference gears;
• Rolling dice;
• Volokov;
• Matrices;
• Punches.

What provides density?

High performance, which is steel X12MF, the characteristics of this brand are achieved by unloading blanks. During the procedure, the round steel bar taken for processing is placed in a special furnace. There it heats up to a certain temperature. After that the bar from X12MF is machined mechanically with a hammer. As a result, you should get a strip of steel with a very high density. Then it is again placed in the bugle and subjected to heat treatment. After the strip is sufficiently heated, it is cut into several small blanks.

Later, by treatment, the desired wedge shape is given to them. In this way knives made of steel X12MF are created. The owners' comments on such blades are mostly positive: the structure of the billet steel in the process of their processing with a hammer becomes very dense, and this, in turn, provides blades with high resistance to blunting.

Why do we need alloying elements?

In its original form, any steel is an ordinary alloy, which includes iron and carbon. Depending on the task that the product will perform, a chemical change is made to the alloy, and this, in turn, improves and adapts the X12MF steel. Characteristics (reviews confirm the information) of the improved material are in the following list:

• High strength;
• Increased corrosion resistance;
• Durability of operation;
• High cutting ability.

The quality data of X12MF is obtained as a result of the addition of alloying elements to it. The procedure is carried out in a certain temperature regime with the required number of hardening.

Composition

Knife steel Х12МФ consists of the following chemical elements:

• Chromium. It is introduced to improve the cutting properties and wear resistance of this steel grade.
• Tungsten. This chemical element increases the hardenability.
• Vanadium. It is necessary for the particles of the excess phase to be qualitatively distributed in the steel structure. Due to the presence of vanadium, the composition significantly reduces the sensitivity to overheating. With an excess of the substance (more than 5%), the plastic properties are reduced, which must have X12MF steel. Characteristics (reviews of owners of steel products fully confirm this) of this material depend on the amount of vanadium. The less the presence of this chemical element, the higher the strength and ductility of steel.
• Molybdenum. This chemical element increases the viscosity and hardenability of steel. At the same time, the presence of a large amount of molybdenum can reduce the resistance of the alloy to the formation of scale. It is desirable that the content of this substance in X12MF does not exceed 1.7%.
• Manganese. This chemical element is necessary to reduce warpage during hardening of products.
• Silicon. Used to improve resistance to tempering during heat treatment.

The production of alloyed stamped steel is carried out taking into account the requirements of GOST.

X12MF: the meaning of the abbreviation

Deciphering the steel grades is not difficult. First of all, it is necessary to know which letters are used in the designation of chemical elements. To denote chromium, the letter X, nickel-H, cobalt-K, vanadium-F, molybdenum-M, titanium-T, copper-D, etc. are used. Therefore, the steel X12MF contains chromium, molybdenum and vanadium. The numeral denotes the content of the basic alloying element. He is chrome. 12% of this chemical element contains steel X12MF.

Characteristics

Knives made of the material of this brand have the qualities that the components contained in it contain. Since X12MF is a carbon steel, the products from it are characterized by high wear resistance. This means that a blade with a high carbon reading can be used for a long time without additional sharpening. The content of 16% of carbon determines what will be the steel X12MF characteristics. Knives made of chromium-containing steel (12%), almost do not rust. In the event that the steel contains 14% chromium, it becomes completely stainless. The presence of these chemical elements provides the blades of X12MF strength and durability. Ensuring abrasion resistance is possible due to an additional alloying additive. For this purpose molybdenum is added during calcination in X12MF. As a result, the steel is calcined evenly. A knife made of it is a product with a uniform sharpening. As evidenced by the numerous reviews of the owners of such blades, there are no weak spots in the structure of the knives.

Testing knives from X12MF

The test of steel hunting knives is the following:

• Knife cuts are made on a rope with a thickness of 200 mm. According to the owners, a blade can easily make at least three hundred rifling. Only then it will be noticeable that the blade blunted.
• Oak bars are also used for the cuts. On this material a knife can make no more than a hundred cuts.
• The newspaper is cut. The essence of this test is also to check the severity of the knife. For this purpose, one newspaper sheet gently falls on the blade. Usually the leaf is easily cut into two parts solely under the influence of its weight.

Despite all the advantages of the steel grade X12MF, many owners of such blades recommend to adhere to two rules:

• Since hunting knives are not a throwing weapon, blades should not be thrown into trees or other surfaces.
• Never check knives for bending and do not step on them.

For those who have purchased one of these knives, experienced hunters recommend not to spend their energy on polishing the blade. According to many consumers, X12MF is very poorly polished. Therefore, a knife made of steel of this brand will never shine brightly.

The characteristic color for his blade is matte. In this regard, knives made of steel X12MF are often confused with bulat.

Conclusion

Steel grade X12MF is appreciated by the manufacturers of various tools and knife products, as well as consumers.

Those who purchased cutting products from steel Х12МФ, speak about knives exclusively positively. Using these blades, you can easily open cans, prick wooden branches and chop the bones of the extracted beast. In marching conditions, these actions are the most common.

No less positive reviews leave consumers of bearings, stamped and cutting tools made of steel X12MF. As experience has shown, products from X12MF can easily cope with any task.