Like most blade steels, the best way to understand the “magic” of K390 is to start with the reason it was developed in the first place. According to its creator, BÖHLER, K390 MICROCLEAN® was developed to “meet the demanding wear resistance and compressive strength requirements of cutting, blanking and punching applications, for cold forming applications, and for parts which are subjected to abrasive wear in plastics processing.” In simpler terms, K390 was created specifically to excel at some of the most demanding industrial processes imaginable.
K390’s remarkable qualities include good machinability, excellent grindability, uniform low dimensional change during heat treatment, excellent tolerance for long soak times during heat...