Tool Steel Selection Guidelines for High Volume Injection Moulding Tooling Baseline Fabrication
High-volume injection moulding baseline tooling demands martensitic stainless or pre-hardened steels matched to polymer abrasiveness and cycle volume.
DIN 17350
Meaning
Technical specifications for tool steels used in the construction of injection moulds and extrusion dies provide the chemical composition and mechanical requirements for alloyed materials. Specifically, din 17350 established these criteria before its withdrawal and replacement by international steel standards. These define the limits for carbon and alloying elements such as chromium and vanadium.
Alloy Composition
Precision in the chemical makeup of the steel ensures consistent response to heat treatment across different batches. The standard identifies specific grades of tool steel by their material numbers to guide toolmakers in selecting the correct substrate.
Material Performance
Measured mechanical properties including toughness and hardness determine how well a mould resists the stresses of high-pressure injection. Because din 17350 is now technically obsolete, most modern procurement documentation refers to its successors. Manufacturers still find the data useful when maintaining or repairing older tools that were specified according to these legacy requirements.
This historical data provides a baseline for comparing the wear characteristics of older tools against modern high-performance alloys that offer superior thermal conductivity or corrosion resistance.
Industry Transition
Standardising national requirements into international ones helped align global trade in mould components. Many legacy tools in operation today were built using the tolerances defined in the original German text.