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
| Fe | 96.8 to 97.8 | |
| Cr | 0.8 to 1.1 | |
| Mn | 0.75 to 1.0 | |
| C | 0.38 to 0.43 | |
| Si | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| Mo | 0.15 to 0.25 | |
| S | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 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