High Speed Steel (HSS) is a kind of steel containing some other elements: carbon, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium, and/or cobalt. After heat treatments, it will have high hardness even at high temperatures. When the cutting temperature exceeds 600°C, the hardness of HSS will not decrease apparently. The cutting speed of cutting tools made of HSS can exceed 60 meters per minute, thus High Speed Steel gets its name. HSS can be classified as ordinary HSS and high performance HSS by its chemical composition, and can also be classified as melting HSS and powder metallurgy HSS by its manufacturing process.

1. Ordinary HSS

Ordinary HSS can meet general needs. Two commonly sighted types of it are tungsten series HSS and tungsten–molybdenum series HSS.

a. Tungsten series HSS

Its typical grade is W18Cr4V. After heat treatment, its hardness can reach 63 – 66 HRC, and bending strength reaches 3500 MPa. Its grindability is good.

b. Tungsten–molybdenum series HSS

Its typical grade is W6Mo5Cr4V2, which is now replacing the tungsten series HSS. Its carbide is small and evenly distributed. It has high abradability, and is at low cost. Its hardness after heat treatment is same as W18Cr4V, but its bending strength can reach 4700 MPa. Its toughness and thermoplasticity are higher than W18Cr4V by 50%. It is usually used to manufacture a variety of tools, such as drill bits, taps, and reamers. It can meet the general processing of engineering materials. Its decarbonization sensitivity is a little bit high.

Another Grade is W9Mo3Cr4V, which is a new variety developed in China. Its toughness and thermoplasticity are a little bit higher than W6Mo5Cr4V2. Its hardness is 63 – 64 HRC. It is easy for rolling and forging. Its decarbonization sensitivity is low. Its cost is also lower.

1. High performance HSS

High performance HSS has a better hardness. This is a new developed variety by changing the chemical composition of HSS and improving its performance. Its hardness can stay at more than 60 HRC when the cutting temperature reaches 650°C. Its durability is 1.5 – 3 times of that of Ordinary HSS. It is applicable to manufacture the cutting tools for processing high temperature alloys, stainless steel, titanium alloys, high–strength steel, and other hard materials. There are 4 main varieties, namely high–carbon series HSS (its typical grade is 9w18Cr4V), high–vanadium series HSS (its typical grades are W12Cr4V4Mo and W6Mo5Cr4V3), cobalt series HSS (its typical grade is W2Mo9Cr4VCo8), and aluminum HSS (its typical grades are W6Mo5Cr4V2Al and W6Mo5Cr4V5SiNbAl).

1. Powder metallurgy HSS

Powder metallurgy HSS effectively solved melting HSS's issue of the big carbide segregation in ingot casting. Grade APM T15 powder metallurgy HSS's toughness is 2.5 times of that of melting HSS which has the same chemical composition. Its hardness in high temperature is also improved by 0.5 – 1 HRC. Its grindability is good.

Because of its high degree of isotropic mechanical property, powder metallurgy HSS's hardening deformation is small, and it has larger surface which has uniform distribution of carbide particles. These carbide particles are not easily to fall off from the cutting edge of tools. By using powder metallurgy HSS, the abradability of small size tools can be improved by 1.5 – 2 times, and 20 – 30% for large size tools.

The production process of powder metallurgy HSS is more complicated than that of melting HSS, and its costs are higher.

1. The market position and trends of HSS

HSS has played an important role in the development of modern industry. It can be said that no HSS, there would be no modern metal processing industry. Though the applications of other materials like hard alloy have risen, HSS still has a dominant position in manufacturing the cutting tools which have complex shapes or are difficult to be ground, such as broaches, shaving cutters, pinion cutters, etc. In particular, when high toughness is required, HSS is the very necessary choice.

The main application fields of HSS are machinery and tools manufacturing industries. HSS should adapt to the development of these industries. In the machinery processing, many CNC machine tools, such as processing centers, turning centers, etc., have been used. The metal cutting speed becomes faster and faster. This requires that cutting tools must have high speed performance, that is, good hardness at high temperatures, good abradability and good toughness. Many manufacturers have developed many HSS materials which can meet these requirements.

High Speed Steel, the steel variety which has a century of history, should aim at the specific markets, and improve its own technologies to counter the other materials' challenges.

All people seeking employment either fresh out of college or trying to re–enter the workforce after losing a position or simply wanting to earn more always are on the lookout for the best paying career opportunities in their respective fields. The same is applicable therefore for people seeking to find the top paying metallurgical engineering jobs in this particular field. We will briefly explore this aspect in the current article.

The best paying metallurgical engineering jobs are those that are involved either with cutting edge technologies or those that deal with reliability issues wherein danger to life and limb could result from improper materials technology. This is the guiding principle that one can follow in locating metallurgical engineering jobs that pay very well. We will now proceed to apply these principles in helping to locate such industries which you need to target in your job search efforts in order to settle for the highest salary and benefits.

The aerospace industry seeks to fill positions for metallurgists that have to deal with component reliability every day. When aerospace components fail in service, catastrophic results can ensue; thus metallurgists employed by the aerospace industry have to be detail oriented and extremely knowledgeable in order to assure the quality and technical performance of the materials involved in the design and production of the components. Hence, aerospace metallurgical engineering jobs pay extremely well.

Another industry which pays its metallurgists very well is the medical industry. Metallurgical engineering jobs provided by the prosthetic, dental implant and orthopedic devices companies are one of the highest paying careers that one can aim for. If the materials in these components are designed improperly, then significant damage can result to the person's body that could potentially result in heavy litigation and so companies in this line of work try to hire the best materials engineers and pay them very well in order to encourage company loyalty and promote employee retention.

A third industry where the best paying metallurgical engineering jobs can be found is in the green energy industry. This relatively new entrant comprises of companies involved in fuel cells research and battery and energy storage devices development and production. Because of the tremendous demands on materials behavior involved, these companies look for the brightest materials engineers and pay them very well to help them be the first to market in these cutting edge technologically advanced products.

We have thus identified the areas wherein the best paying metallurgical engineering jobs can be found. That said, there is a lot of competition to land these positions and it is going to take a lot of work on the part of the prospective candidate in order to be successful in beating the competition and winning in the process.

Traditionally, the use of metal in railings and other articles was limited as it required a lot of hard work and skill. With the introduction of technology, working with metal has become easier and made it the most favored material for all class of people.

Iron railings – all time favorites

Traditional and still modern – iron railings

The 16th and the 17th century saw the beginning of the industrial revolution, which gave rise to the art of metallurgy. Cast iron and wrought iron railings became famous among the higher class in this era. In those days metallurgy was considered an art, which involved working with metal. The absence of welding technology made it more complicated, as joining metal was done in the traditional way of heating and hammering or by riveting. Basically it involved a lot of skill and hard work, which made it very expensive and affordable only by the rich and elite class.

1. types of iron railings are available a) wrought iron railings b) cast iron railings c) steel railings. Only wrought iron and cast iron railings existed in the 17th century, steel railings have come in vogue in the recent years.

Fashion keeps changing with time, but metal railings will never go out of vogue. Metal does no decompose and hence it is very durable. This one characteristic of iron has helped it survive through ages and changing fashion.

Although, the kings and the aristocratic class preferred other valuable metals like gold, silver in most of the household articles. Iron found considerable use in the construction of railings.

Types of metals used in iron railings

Wrought iron railings: railings made of wrought iron are very expensive, as it involves a lot of hard work and skill in fabricating them. It's a laborious process of pre heating iron and hammering the red hot iron to give them the desired shapes. The scarcity of skilled artisans and hard work involved makes its supply limited and expensive.

Cast iron railings: one can find cast iron railings only in the houses of the very rich and elite. Cast iron railings are made by casting melted iron into sand moulds of desired designs. Although made from iron, it is very fragile and once broken its hard to repair it simply needs replacement.

Mild steel railings: introduced in the 18th century, it gained popularity instantly. Working with mild steel was comparatively easy, as heating was not necessarily required. Riveting could be used to join two pieces, rather then weld them. These qualities of mild steel made it the most preferred metal for railing and other articles.

Use of advanced technology in iron railings

With the introduction of technology, metallurgy has become more of science than art. Technology has made bending, cutting and welding metal rods much easier. The invention of the welding technology also made working with iron railings and other articles a much simpler task. Welding has made it possible to experiment with shapes and designs and at the same time reduce its weight and cost which were other wise practically impossible.

With the advancement in the metal working technology, experimenting with shapes and designs has become much easier. Although the metal used is the same, the use of plates and other patterns in making railing has made it more attractive, strong and maintenance free. The use of stainless steel in railing has changed the market of fabrication forever.