USES

The main use of high speed steel continues to be in the manufacture of various cutting tools: drills, taps, milling cutters, gear cutters, saw blades, etc, although usage for punches and dies is increasing. Tool steel, in particular HSS, can be surface treated by nitriding, laser or plasma overlays of hard coatings (eg stellites) as well as by chemical or physical vapour deposition of hard carbides and nitrides. Coatings, such as TiN, TiAlN or CrAlN significantly increase tool lives but increase tool costs. Nevertheless, most tools in the higher end applications are coated today as the higher cost is well balanced by the higher productivity during machining. Global HSS production in 2007 was estimated at 260,000t.