D6 Tool Steel


D6 tool steel suppliers and stockholders. D6 is a high carbon high chromium tool steel supplied in rounds and flats with delivery to the whole of the UK. This tool steel grade offers very high wear resistance with edge holding quality. It is an air hardening alloy tool steel with excellent resistance to wear and abrasion. As a high carbon high quality tool steel D6 has good through hardening properties and dimensional stability combined with high resistance to tempering.

We welcome export enquiries for tool steel. Please contact our sales office and consult our shipping policy for further details.

Related Specifications

AISI ASTM A681  DIN 17350  BS EN ISO 4957

Alternative tool steel grades we supply

O1 | D2 | D3 | O2 | A2 | S1 | H13 | P20 | P20S | 420 | 1.2083 | 2767 | M2 | M42 | 1.1730

Form of Supply

West Yorkshire Steel are stockholders and suppliers of round bar and flat bar. Diameters in D6 can be sawn to your required lengths as one offs or multiple cut pieces. Rectangular pieces can be sawn from flat bar. D6 ground tool steel bar can be supplied, providing a quality precision ground bar to your required tolerances.

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  • Flat
  • Diameter

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Applications

Typical applications for D6 tool steel include blanking and shearing tools, drawing tools, drawing dies, mandrels, press tools, forming tools and shear blades. D6 is suited to applications where maximum wear resistance is required.


Carbon 2.00% Chromium 12.00%
Silicon 0.35% Tungsten 0.75%
Manganese 0.35%

Heat the D6 tool steel slowly and uniformly to 700°C then more rapidly to 900-1050°C.  After forging cool slowly, preferably in a furnace.


D6 is supplied in the annealed and machineable condition. Re-annealing will only be necessary if the tool steel has been forged or hardened by the toolmaker. To anneal heat to 800-840°C and slow furnace cool. Hardness after annealing will be approximately 225 brinell.


If machining operations have been heavy or if the tool has an unbalanced section, remove stresses before hardening by heating up to 650-700°C, equalise, then cool slowly.


Pre heat slowly to 750-800°C and thoroughly soak. Continue heating to the final hardening temperature of 950-980°C and allow the component to be heated through. Cool in air or quench in oil. D6 is suitable for vacuum (high speed gas) hardening.


To temper heat uniformly and thoroughly at the selected tempering temperature and hold for at least one hour per 25mm of total thickness. Double tempering should be carried out with intermediate cooling to room temperature.

Temperature [°C] 100 200 300 400
Hardness [HRc] 65 63 61 60

Heat treatment temperatures, including rate of heating, cooling and soaking times will vary due to factors such as the shape and size of each D6 steel component. Other considerations during the heat treatment process include the type of furnace, quenching medium and work piece transfer facilities. Please consult your heat treatment provider for full guidance on heat treatment of tool steels.


Select the correct grade of wheel in consultation with the grinding wheel manufacturer. Ensure the grinding wheel is in good condition by means of a suitable dressing tool. Wet grinding is a preferable option using a copious supply of coolant. If dry grinding is resorted to then use a very soft wheel.


D6 tool steel is supplied in accordance with our ISO 9001:2015 registration.