Tie bar and chromed haft rod are widely used in the machinery industry as guilding function. One of its biggest features is that the surface has a chrome-plated layer, which is generally formed by electroplating. It can have the characteristics of high hardness, strong heat resistance, good wear resistance, and chemical stability. What kind of material is generally used for chrome-plated rods?

1. 45#

C45 steel is the most commonly used material for general purpose tie bar and chromed shaft rod. It belongs to a medium carbon quenched and tempered structural steel with good mechanical properties, high strength and good machinability. Especially when it is quenched and tempered or normalized, it can obtain better cutting performance, higher strength and stronger toughness. If we need surface hardness and want to exert the superior mechanical properties of No. 45 steel, we can directly perform surface quenching, high frequency quenching or direct quenching of No. 45 steel to improve the surface hardness of the parts, so that the required surface hardness can be obtained.

2. 40Cr

Like 45# steel, 40Cr is also a commonly used material for chrome-plated tie bar or rods. It is one of the medium carbon quenched and tempered steels, and it is also one of the most widely used steels in the machinery manufacturing industry. After proper heat treatment, 40Cr steel can obtain certain toughness, plasticity and wear resistance. Because normalizing can promote the spheroidization of 40Cr steel, its improved hardness is less than the cutting performance of 160HBS blank. And because the hardenability of 40Cr steel is higher than that of 45 steel, it is more suitable for surface hardening treatment such as high frequency quenching and flame quenching, so it can be tempered in the range of 550~570℃.

3. 38CrMoAlA

For some situation like two-platen injection machines, which requires high strength and stability, 38CrMoAla with nitrided treatment are used also a lot, compare to C45 & 40Cr, 38CrMoAla nitrided can obtain much higher hardness and less chance of deformation while usage.