Low-alloy special purpose steel is a grade of

tool steel Tool steel is any of various carbon steels and alloy steels that are particularly well-suited to be made into tools and tooling, including cutting tools, dies, hand tools, knives, and others. Their suitability comes from their distinctive har ...

characterized by its proportion of iron to other elements, the kind of elements in its composition, and its treatment during the manufacturing process. The three

ASTM ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, an ...

established grades of low-alloy special purpose steel are L2, L3, and L6. This grade originally contained L1, L4, L5 and L7 as well as three F grades (F1, F2, and F3) but because of falling demand only grades L2 and L6 remain in production.

L2

L2 grade steel comes in medium-carbon (0.45%-0.65%) and high-carbon (0.65%-1.1%) formats.

L6

L6 is the most commonly encountered and most frequently made variety of these steels. It is known for its high wear resistance and its toughness.

Applications

Applications for the L-series of tool steels have included precision gauges, bearings, rollers, cold-heading dies, swaging dies, feed fingers, spindles, jigs, shears, punches, and drills. They are also used for machining arbors, cams, chucks, and collets.

References

{{reflist Steel