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Quenched and Tempered 4140 Cr-Mo Steel

Quenched and tempered SAE-AISI 4140 is SAE-AISI 4140 steel in the quenched and tempered condition. It has the highest strength compared to the other variants of SAE-AISI 4140 steel. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare quenched and tempered SAE-AISI 4140 to: SAE-AISI wrought steels (top), all iron alloys (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness

310

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus

190 GPa 27 x 106 psi

Elongation at Break

16 %

Fatigue Strength

650 MPa 94 x 103 psi

Poisson's Ratio

0.29

Shear Modulus

73 GPa 11 x 106 psi

Shear Strength

660 MPa 96 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)

1080 MPa 160 x 103 psi

Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof)

990 MPa 140 x 103 psi

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion

250 J/g

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical

420 °C 790 °F

Melting Completion (Liquidus)

1460 °C 2660 °F

Melting Onset (Solidus)

1420 °C 2580 °F

Specific Heat Capacity

470 J/kg-K 0.11 BTU/lb-°F

Thermal Conductivity

43 W/m-K 25 BTU/h-ft-°F

Thermal Expansion

13 µm/m-K

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume

7.3 % IACS

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)

8.4 % IACS

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price

2.4 % relative

Density

7.8 g/cm3 490 lb/ft3

Embodied Carbon

1.5 kg CO2/kg material

Embodied Energy

20 MJ/kg 8.5 x 103 BTU/lb

Embodied Water

51 L/kg 6.1 gal/lb

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work)

170 MJ/m3

Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience)

2590 kJ/m3

Stiffness to Weight: Axial

13 points

Stiffness to Weight: Bending

24 points

Strength to Weight: Axial

38 points

Strength to Weight: Bending

30 points

Thermal Diffusivity

12 mm2/s

Thermal Shock Resistance

32 points

Alloy Composition

Iron (Fe)Fe 96.8 to 97.8
Chromium (Cr)Cr 0.8 to 1.1
Manganese (Mn)Mn 0.75 to 1.0
Carbon (C)C 0.38 to 0.43
Silicon (Si)Si 0.15 to 0.35
Molybdenum (Mo)Mo 0.15 to 0.25
Sulfur (S)S 0 to 0.040
Phosphorus (P)P 0 to 0.035

All values are % weight. Ranges represent what is permitted under applicable standards.

Followup Questions

Further Reading

ASTM A322: Standard Specification for Steel Bars, Alloy, Standard Grades

Sintering of Advanced Materials: Fundamentals and Processes, Zhigang Zak Fang (editor), 2010

Properties and Selection: Irons, Steels and High Performance Alloys, ASM Handbook vol. 1, ASM International, 1993

ASM Specialty Handbook: Carbon and Alloy Steels, J. R. Davis (editor), 1996

Manufacture and Uses of Alloy Steels, Henry D. Hibbard, 2005

Steels: Processing, Structure, and Performance, 2nd ed., George Krauss, 2015