GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AISI 1050

1050 is a medium carbon, medium tensile steel with good strength, toughness and wear resistance.



C1050 is a versatile medium carbon engineering steel that can be through hardened to a little over 2.5” (63mm), as well as being flame or induction hardened to Rc61. The steel can be readily welded and machined providing correct procedures are followed.



FORGING AISI 1050 CARBON STEEL

C1050 is forged from 2100 – 2300 º F (1150 – 1280 º C) down to a temperature in the range 1600 – 1700 º F ( 870 – 925 º C.). The actual forging and finishing temperatures will depend on a number of factors, including overall reduction during forging and complexity of part being forged. Experience alone will determine near exact values for these two parameters. Parts are air cooled after forging.



APPLICATIONS OF AISI 1050

This grade of steel is used for the manufacture of forged shafts and gears and for a wide range of applications that can make use of its good combination of mechanical properties.



HEAT TREATMENT

Heat treatment is carried out on this grade to render it suitable for machining and to impart to it specified mechanical properties.



ANNEALING

Full annealing of small C1050 forgings is carried out between 1450 and 1600 º F (790 – 870 º C) followed by furnace cooling at 50 º F (10 º C) per hour, to 1200 º F (650 º C) and air cooling.



NORMALIZING

The normalizing temperature range for this grade is typically 1550 – 1600 º F (840 – 870 º C,) Normalizing is followed by cooling in still air. When forgings are normalized before hardening and tempering or other heat treatment, the upper range of the normalizing temperature is used. When normalizing is the final treatment, the lower temperature range is used.



HARDENING

Hardening of this grade is carried out from an austenitizing temperature of 1500 – 1600 º F (820 – 870 º C) followed by oil or water quenching.



Flame and induction hardening may be carried out by heating quickly to the desired case depth and quenching in water or oil. This should be followed by a tempering treatment at 300 – 400 º F (150 – 200 º C) to reduce stresses in the case, without affecting its hardness. A surface hardness as high as Rc 61 may be obtained from C1050 by this treatment.



TEMPERING

Tempering after normal hardening and oil or water quenching is carried out at 750 – 1260 º F (400 – 680 º C) to give the required mechanical properties as determined by practical experience.



MACHINABILITY

Machinability of C1050 is good providing the full annealing cycle described above is used, A coarse lamellar pearlite to coarse spheroidite microstructure gives optimum machinability in C1050.



WELDABILITY

This grade is readily welded with the correct procedure. Welding in the through hardened or flame or induction hardened conditions is not recommended.



Low-hydrogen electrodes are recommended together with preheat at 300 – 800 º F (150 – 430 º C.) to be maintained during welding, Cool slowly in sand or ashes and stress relieve where possible. It may be that in certain instances normalizing may be called for after welding.

The term ‘mild steel’ is also applied commercially to carbon steels not covered by standard specifications. Carbon content of this steel may vary from quite low levels up to approximately 0.3%. Generally, commercial ‘mild steer’ can be expected to be readily weldable and have reasonable cold bending propertie.

A type of steel in which carbon is the primary alloying element, with the level of carbon contained in a steel being one of the most important factors governing its mechanical properties. Mild steel has no more than 1.65% manganese, 0.6% silicon or 0.6% copper. Mild steel is available with varying levels of formability. The more formable grades are typically more costly than the less formable grades. Also called carbon steel.

Mild steel, also known as plain-carbon steel, is now the most common form of steel because its price is relatively low while it provides material properties that are acceptable for many applications. Low-carbon steel contains approximately 0.05–0.25% carbon[1] making it malleable and ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile strength, but it is cheap and easy to form; surface hardness can be increased through carburizing.[3]

It is often used when large quantities of steel are needed, for example as structural steel. The density of mild steel is approximately 7.85 g/cm3 (7850 kg/m3 or 0.284 lb/in3) and the Young's modulus is 210 GPa (30,000,000 psi).

Low-carbon steels suffer from yield-point runout where the material has two yield points. The first yield point (or upper yield point) is higher than the second and the yield drops dramatically after the upper yield point. If a low-carbon steel is only stressed to some point between the upper and lower yield point then the surface develop Lüder bands. Low-carbon steels contain less carbon than other steels and are easier to cold-form, making them easier to handle