UCC Filing Procedures for Protecting Customer Owned Injection Moulding Tools
Protect customer injection molds by filing UCC-1 protective bailments and securing bank subordination waivers before placing steel at a supplier facility.
H-13 Steel
Meaning
Versatile chromium-molybdenum hot-work tool steel is the primary material for high-volume injection moulding cavities and cores. Because h-13 steel offers high resistance to thermal fatigue cracking, it is the standard choice for tools processing resins at high temperatures or for long production runs. The material contains approximately five percent chromium, which provides high hardenability and toughness.
Its application stops where extreme corrosion resistance is needed, where stainless grades like 420 are preferred.
Thermal Resistance
Resistance to heat checking allows this alloy to withstand the repeated heating and cooling cycles of the moulding process. In applications involving high-performance polymers, h-13 steel maintains its structural integrity without softening. This stability ensures that the parting line of the mould stays sharp over hundreds of thousands of cycles.
Material Hardness
Heat treatment processes bring this steel to a typical working range of 48 to 52 Rockwell C for most moulding applications. Hardening h-13 steel involves a vacuum furnace treatment followed by tempering to achieve the desired balance of wear resistance and impact strength. A tool that is too hard will become brittle and crack under the high clamping forces of a modern press.
Tooling Durability
Long-term performance of the mould depends on the quality of the initial steel forging and the precision of the machining.