# H13 hardness failure?



## ome (Feb 10, 2015)

Hi Guys, 
I took some h13 i got as drops at a good price, and brought to the heat treaters over in Wyandanch Long Island New York and this is a quality place that does just about everything for aerospace so they gave me a really good price because I kind a new one of the guys, and they were okay with my S7, I think they got the S7 to about 54 to 56 something like that but the H 13 they gave triple tempered and at the end of the third temper it only came up to 38 and they did everything right.


So both pieces of the h13 are exactly at the same hardness 38 which he said was unusual. He also said that it was unusual to have such large pieces of H13 as drops. These pieces were a round six in three-quarterby nine and three-quarter inches tall, the second piece is 15 inches long, By 3 1/4 inches wide, by 9" tall. Both of these pieces way and it just about 100 pounds 105  pounds.
does anyone have any advice as to what may have happened, I don't have the money to have them tested to see if it is really H13 and he said that they were various qualities of H13 that have various RC hardnesses that they can be attained to, not sure if I got ripped off when I bought the H 13 telling me it was h13 and maybe it's some other form of toolsteel.he said he was going to try something to see if he can get it to a higher hardness but if he can't is 38 something that I can use to for Forging steel , otherwise it's a waste for me for these two pieces.
Any advice would be appreciated. I bought the steel at ebay, Shapirosupply.com

Thanks a lot in advance,
jon


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## Holescreek (Feb 10, 2015)

Call around to scrap yards near you and see if any  of them have an XRF gun to analyze steel. (Most of the good ones will.) If so, take one of the pieces to them and let them take a reading and tell you what the steel really is.


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## Flammable_Solid (Feb 10, 2015)

What was the tempering temperature?

What was the austenitizing temperature?

Did you specify no decarburization allowed?

Those are some very large pieces.  The final hardness will also depend on the section thickness.


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## ome (Feb 10, 2015)

Flammable_Solid said:


> What was the tempering temperature?
> 
> What was the austenitizing temperature?
> 
> ...


Thank You,
until I speak with him, i won't. Know the answer to the questions you're asking. 
One piece is 3.25" thick by 9" tall by 15"" long. 
Secound piece is 6.75"diameter by 9.75 tall. 
The rectagle weighs in at 85lb  and the round piece weighs in at 105lb
I am a beginner and relied on the knowledge of the heat treater. 
Is 38 as high as these pices can go because of size?
i am using them as post anvils for forging blades and blacksmithing. 
Could you tell me what decarburization, but I did not specify anything except that the h13 be triple tempered and hardened to 54-55 and the S7 piece was 3.5 " diameter by 36" long and 100lb worked out fine, at 50 something, i could not hear him at that time. The 2 pieces of H13 came out to 38rc, when he said would get to 54-55. 
I dont know if he made a mistake or the tool steel is not really h13. 
Anything u could enlighten me would be appreciated. 
Thanks,
Ome


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## 4GSR (Feb 22, 2015)

Sounds like the material de-carb on the surface.  Did the heat treater grind a flat about 1/8" deep and then punch a Brinell hardness?  De-carb is the results of not Austenize, Quench, & temper in a inert gas atmosphere.  In other terms, when it is heated to cherry red for quenching, if pulled from furnace into the atmosphere around us, it will immediately start loosing or sucking out the carbon atoms at the surface.  Generally, it's kept in a carbon (CO)/methane gas atmosphere in the furnace, which restores carbon in the steel as well as prevent de-carb of carbon atoms at the austenitizing temperature.  Most ovens have a "trap door" in the bottom that is open and the part basket is dunk into the quench solution, agitated for a length of time, then raised back into the furnace.  Then it's brought up to tempering temperature.
Chances are if you went below the surface by up to 1/16" maybe even 3/32" deep, you will find the material is probably up in the 54-55 HRC range you were asking for.  If not, you probably have some "junk" iron on your hands.


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