I wanted to know what kind of steel that can be hardenned with water.
Any help will be appreciated...

Hello Etienne

I am assuming you mean the use of water as a quenchant for a piece of hot metal. The material if it is steel will have enough carbon in it to harden some. The level of carbon in the steel will dictate how hard this can get. Alloys will affect this by increasing or decreasing the ability of the material to harden. At low levels of crabon it will harden just a little bit. WIth other alloys and higher carbon levels some steels will shatter on contact with the water in a red hot state.

For any hardening to occur the tempreture must be above what is termed the "critical tempreture" this is where the actual configuration of the material changes due to heat energy.

If you have pure iron and quench the material there will be no hardening.

I hope this helps a bit. Are you looking for a particular material to use in making blades?

Best
Craig

I'm in the process to get information on the type of steel that i have in my house, 'cause i don't know much about it.
I just know that the steel come from my school so it really mean that i know nothing about it...

Do you have any idea what it was used for? That can help narrow down the possibilities a degree, I'd recommend that you consult with your local Blacksmith or Welding shop to have them help you out. If that isn't readily available, you can determine the basic composition of an alloy and it's carbon content by augering; or reading the sparks thrown off by a sample of the metal when it is ground on a power-grinder.

http://www.ohiosteel.org/homepage/Spark%20Tes...Metals.pdf

i'm not sure but i think it is grey cast iron or carbon tool steel, but a i said i'm not sure...

if it can help, it is used at my school to repair things like trailer or other stuff like that.

my guess w/out seeing a spark test is that it is a low carbon steel which is used today for most structural building and repair of most everything. take a piece of it and grind it, if the sparks have a bright distinct starburst spark on the end of the trail it is most likely high carbon. if not you have low carbon. which cannot really be hardened. the supplier of it can tell you the 3 or 4 digit number ; the numbers correspond to alloy content. most high carbn is hardenable in water but some must be hardened in oil. brine is also used. low carbon can be cased hardened which emparts a very hard surface and colors to the piece.

i just know that the stream was approximately 35 inches and it was orange so what do you think it is and is it good stuff?

I would like to know what metal is used for tractor shovel because it is the only metal that i can have for now that is suitable for my budget.