Mold steel and die casting excellence with Toolox® tool steel

Toolox® engineering and tool steel comes from the Swedish special steels manufacturer SSAB. It has set of properties that makes it uniquely suited as a mold steel for die casting, injection molding, and other kinds of high-performing mold and die applications.

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Toolox® engineering and tool steel keeps its promises

Toolox® is produced by SSAB at the same mill under strict quality control. The steel is cast, rolled, quenched and tempered to meet SSAB’s very strict specifications. Every piece of Toolox® is tested to ensure the properties are consistent. This is key to reliable performance during manufacturing, and high productivity when the mold or die is put into use. Toolox® steel keeps its promises, so you can keep yours.

Toolox® has
guaranteed and
measured properties

  • Impact toughness
  • Hardness
  • Machinability
  • Thickness
  • Flatness
  • Surface condition

Perfect for injection molding

Using Toolox® as a mold steel for injection molding saves a lot in manufacturing time due to the high machinability. Molding plastic parts with high content of abrasive fillers is no problem thanks to the steel’s high hardness without heat treatment. If necessary, the surface hardness can easily be increased by nitriding, laser hardening or other surface treatment. The high purity also makes Toolox® perfectly suited for polishing to a high gloss.

 
Molds in Toolox® steel regularly outperform molds in traditional standard steel many times over.
Molds in Toolox® steel regularly outperform molds in traditional standard steel many times over.
The homogeneous and clean Toolox® steel has all it takes for plastic molds to be polished to a mirror finish.

Perfect as a die casting and forging steel

The high-temperature properties of Toolox® makes it a perfect die steel for casting and forging. Yield strength, wear resistance and impact toughness remain higher than conventional hot work steels also at elevated temperatures. If heated up to 590°C(1094°F), the metal mold in Toolox® still keeps its original hardness when cooled.

High volume casting of brass, zink and aluminum works excellent with Toolox®.
As a mold steel, Toolox® has a unique combination of hardness, crack resistance and high temperature resilience.

Perfect as a stamping and punching die steel

When creating stamping and punching dies even with the most intricate shapes, Toolox® is the perfect steel. There is no warping after machining of large pieces, because there are no internal stresses. The steel is extremely homogenous with high cleanliness and equal hardness all through the material, keeping stamping tools and punching edges in perfect shape for high-volume production.

Stamping tools for large and thin sheets of metal can by machined out of a single Toolox® 44 plate.
Punching dies in Toolox® are hard as they are and can be made even harder with surface treatment.

Toolox® steel for molds and dies saves time

Faster machining

Toolox® is a premium die steel for injection molds and die casting, forging, stamping and punching tools. It can take high-performance machining without subsequent stress relieving. The fact that Toolox® is a highly predictable material ensures that similar machine settings give repeatable results.

No heat treatment

As a prehardened steel Toolox® allows for shorter manufacturing time and reduced production costs. No heat treatment after machining is needed since the required hardness comes with the steel. Thanks to the steel’s low carbon concept it’s still easy to machine as a mold steel.

Production process Toolox vs standard
Production process Toolox vs standard

“We’ve noticed an improvement in tool durability and have been able to streamline machining by up to 20 percent, reducing manufacturing times,” he says. “In addition, the excellent heat resistance of Toolox® 33 has allowed us to accelerate the injection rate, thereby reducing production costs.”

Gustavo Becker, CEO Innovos, Buenos Aires

“By introducing Toolox® in our stamping dies we have been able to combine a more efficient manufacturing with a more reliable production tool. After 5 years production the die was still running, having produced more than 1 million components without any problem whatsoever.”

Vicente Cervera, Production Manager at Grupo Segura, Spain

“Forging a chain link puts high-temperature stresses on the die material. The chain steel is heated to around 890°C before forging and the die works continuously at 400-500°C. When using 1.2343/1.2344 steel the typical die lifetime was around 10,000-11,000 forging strokes. After changing to a die in Toolox® 44, we have reached well over 50,000 strokes.”

Learn more about Toolox® tool and engineering steel

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