CarTech Micro-Melt 20-4 alloy is a highly wear and corrosion resistant, air hardening martensitic cold-work stainless die steel produced using Carpenter's powder metallurgy (P/M) process. The excellent wear resistance of the alloy is provided by a significant volume fraction of hard vanadium-rich carbides, while the alloy's outstanding corrosion resistance is obtained as a result of the chromium-rich matrix. The application of Carpenter's P/M processing creates a segregation-free and homogeneously fine carbide and grain size distribution, and when coupled with the use of molten metal filtration, results in improved cleanliness and toughness compared to conventionally cast and wrought processed material. CarTech Micro-Melt 20-4 alloy's uniform microstructure, fine carbide distribution, cleanliness and high chromium content, is responsible for the material's excellent combination of wear resistance, toughness, polishability and corrosion resistance.

Applications:
The unique combination of wear resistance, toughness, polishability and corrosion resistance makes CarTech Micro-Melt 20-4 alloy an excellent candidate material for plastic compounding and injection feed screws and screw segments, barrel liners, screw tips, backflow check valves and mold cavities, particularly when processing plastics resins that contain abrasive and/or corrosive fillers and particulates. Other potential applications include pelletizer, granulator and high-performance industrial and custom knives as well as food processing equipment. In severe applications requiring toughness and good wear and corrosion resistance, CarTech Micro-Melt 20-4 alloy can reduce tooling requirements by as much as 75% compared to conventional tooling.