W1 steels are capable of hardening to high surface hardness and soft core which is useful in some shock applications. They are low cost tool steels with fair to good wear resistance as carbon content increases. As they are water quenched and have poor dimensional stability, their use is limited to fairly uniform sections with minimum amount of stress risers; in other applications quench cracking can occur. The graph shows an isothermal transformation diagram for a W1 steel.
Volume 4D, Heat Treating of Irons and Steels -> Heat Treating of Cold-Work Tool Steels—Low- and Un-Alloyed Water and Oil Hardening Steels -> Water-Hardening Tool Steels
