AISI H13 Tool Steel
AISI H13 steel is a 5% Cr ultra-high strength tool steel alloy with higher content of molybdenum and vanadium. Molybdenum provides excellent toughness and high hardenability; Vanadium results in a higher degree of dispersion of the hard vanadium carbides, resulting in higher wear resistance.
H13 tool steel is a secondary hardening steel. It has good tempering resistance, good thermal fatigue resistance, and excellent heat cracking resistance, and maintains high hardness and strength at elevated temperatures. It is deep hardening and has a very high toughness, which allows hardening of large sections by air cooling.
Hot work tools made of H13 material can be safely water cooled in hot work use where thermal shock cracking is not an issue. Its resistance to thermal fatigue, erosion, and wear makes it the mold material of choice for aluminum and magnesium die castings, as well as many other hot working applications. However, H13 metal is subject to hydrogen embrittlement and can be nitrided for additional wear resistance.
AISI H13 Steel Properties
The following data sheets summarize H13 steel properties such as chemical composition, physical and mechanical properties, etc.
Chemical Composition
| Chemical Composition, % | |||||||||
| Standard | AISI (UNS) | C | Si | Mn | P, ≤ | S, ≤ | Cr | Mo | V |
| ASTM A681 | H13 (T20813) | 0.32-0.45 | 0.80-1.25 | 0.20-0.60 | 0.030 | 0.030 | 4.75-5.50 | 1.10-1.75 | 0.80-1.20 |
Note: Manganese limit is ≤ 1.0 % for H13 resulfurized.
Physical Properties
H13 material physical properties such as density, specific heat capacity, and thermal properties, elastic modulus are given in the table below.
| Physical Properties | Metric | Imperial |
| Density | 7.76 g/cm3 | 0.280 lb/in3 |
| Specific heat capacity | 460 J/kg·K (20 °C) | 0.11 Btu/lb·°F (68 °F) |
| Elastic modulus (Modulus of Elasticity) | 193 GPa | 28 x 106 psi |
| 186 GPa (190 °C) | 27 x 106 psi (375 °F) | |
| 172 GPa (400 °C) | 25 x 106 psi (750 °F) | |
| Thermal conductivity | 32.0 W/m·K (20 °C) | 18.5 Btu/ft·h·°F (68 °F) |
| 33.0 W/m·K (190 °C) | 19.1 Btu/ft·h·°F (375 °F) | |
| 34.0 W/m·K (400 °C) | 19.7 Btu/ft·h·°F (750 °F) | |
| Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) | 10.4 μm/m (20-100 °C) | 5.8 μin./in.°F (70-200 °F) |
| 11.5 μm/m (20-200 °C) | 6.4 μin./in.°F (70-400 °F) | |
| 12.2 μm/m (20-425 °C) | 6.8 μin./in.°F (70-800 °F) | |
| 12.4 μm/m (20-540 °C) | 6.9 μin./in.°F (70-1000 °F) | |
| 13.1 μm/m (20-650 °C) | 7.3 μin./in.°F (70-1200 °F) |
Mechanical Properties of H13 Steel
Typical room-temperature longitudinal mechanical properties of H13 steel bars tempered to different hardness levels.
Round bars, oil quenched from 1010 °C (1850 °F) and double tempered, 2+2 hour at indicated temperature.
| Tempering temperature, °C (°F) | Tensile strength, MPa (ksi) | Yield strength, MPa (ksi) | Elongation in 4D gage length, % | Reduction in area, % | Hardness, HRC | Charpy V-notch impact, J (ft·lbf) |
| 527 (980) | 1960 (284) | 1570 (228) | 13.0 | 46.2 | 52 | 16 (12) |
| 555 (1030) | 1835 (266) | 1530 (222) | 13.1 | 50.1 | 50 | 24 (18) |
| 575 (1065) | 1730 (251) | 1470 (213) | 13.5 | 52.4 | 48 | 27 (20) |
| 593 (1100) | 1580 (229) | 1365 (198) | 14.4 | 53.7 | 46 | 28.5 (21) |
| 605 (1120) | 1495 (217) | 1290 (187) | 15.4 | 54.0 | 44 | 30 (22) |
Longitudinal short-time tensile properties of H13 tool steel bar
Oil quenched from 1010 °C (1850 °F) and doubled tempered to indicated hardness.
| Room temperature hardness, HRC | Test temperature, °C (°F) | Tensile strength, MPa (ksi) | Yield strength, MPa (ksi) | Elongation in 4D gage length, % | Reduction in area, % |
| 52, tempered 2+2 h at 527 °C (980 °F). | 425 (800) | 1620 (235) | 1240 (180) | 13.7 | 50.6 |
| 540 (1000) | 1305 (189) | 1000 (145) | 13.9 | 54.0 | |
| 595 (1100) | 1020 (148) | 825 (120) | 17.5 | 65.4 | |
| 650 (1200) | 450 (65) | 340 (49) | 28.9 | 88.9 | |
| 48, tempered 2+2 h at 575 °C (1065 °F). | 425 (800) | 1400 (203) | 1150 (167) | 15.0 | 59.9 |
| 540 (1000) | 1160 (168) | 960 (139) | 17.1 | 62.4 | |
| 595 (1100) | 940 (136) | 750 (109) | 18.0 | 68.5 | |
| 650 (1200) | 455 (66) | 350 (51) | 33.6 | 89.0 | |
| 44, tempered 2+2 h at 605 °C (1120 °F). | 425 (800) | 1200 (174) | 1005 (146) | 17 | 64.1 |
| 540 (1000) | 995 (144) | 820 (119) | 20.6 | 70.0 | |
| 595 (1100) | 827 (120) | 690 (100) | 22.6 | 74.0 | |
| 650 (1200) | 450 (65) | 350 (51) | 28.4 | 87.6 |
Longitudinal impact properties of H13 tool steel bar tempered at different temperatures
Air cooled from 1010 °C (1850 °F) and double tempered, 2+2 hour at indicated temperature.
| Tempering temperature | Hardness, HRC, at room temperature | Charpy tempering V-notch impact energy [J (ft·lbf)] at test temperature | ||||
| °C (°F) | -73 °C (-100 °F) | 21 °C (70 °F) | 260 °C (500 °F) | 540 °C (1000 °F) | 595 °C (1100 °F) | |
| 524 (975) | 54 | 7 (5) | 14 (10) | 27 (20) | 31 (23) | – |
| 565 (1050) | 52 | 7 (5) | 14 (10) | 30 (22) | 34 (25) | 34 (25) at 565 °C (1050 °F) |
| 607 (1125) | 47 | 8 (6) | 24 (18) | 41 (30) | 45 (33) | 43 (32) |
H13 Steel Hardness Range
H13 steel hardness range is 28-53 HRC varies with tempering temperature, all specimens are air-cooled from 1025 °C (1875 °F) and tempered at temperature for 2 hours.
Heat Treatment
Applications
H13 material is available as bars, bars, billets and forgings. Typical thermal processing applications include die casting dies, forging dies, extrusion dies, inserts, plungers, cores, ejector pins, sleeves, slides, dummy blocks, mandrels and hot shears. Other tooling and structural applications include beams, shafts, punches, torsion bars, shrouds and ratchets.
AISI H13 Steel Equivalent Material
AISI H13 tool steel equivalent material is listed in the table below, including European EN, ISO, German DIN, Chinese GB and Japanese JIS standard, etc.
| AISI H13 Steel Equivalent Material | |||||||||||||||||||
| US | European Union | ISO | Germany | Japan | China | Australia | India | Rusia | Korea | ||||||||||
| Standard | Steel (UNS) | Standard | Steel Name (Material Number) | Standard | Designation | Standard | Steel Name (Material Number) | Standard | Steel Grade | Standard | Steel Grade | Standard | Grade | Standard | Grade | Standard | Grade | Standard | Grade |
| AISI, SAE; ASTM A681 |
H13 (T20813) | EN ISO 4957 | X40CrMoV5-1 (1.2344) | ISO 4957 | X40CrMoV5-1 | DIN EN ISO 4957; DIN 17350 |
X40CrMoV5-1 (1.2344) | JIS G4404 | SKD61 | GB/T 1299 | 4Cr5MoSiV1 | ||||||||
