What is cobalt steel?

What Makes Cobalt Different from HSS? Cobalt steel is a variation of high speed steel with a higher content of cobalt. Common grades are M-35 and M-42, having 5% and 8% respectively. These steels are ideal for cutting tools because they have a high red hardness that gives it much higher heat resistance. read more

Cobalt is unique among alloying constituents in steel in that it is the only element that decreases the hardenability of steel by accelerating the decomposition of austenite. It is never used in the standard AISI/SAE heat treatable steels. read more

Cobalt is also used to produce permanent magnets, such as the previously mentioned AlNiCo and samarium-cobalt magnets. Magnets account for 7% of cobalt metal demand and are used in magnetic recording media, electric motors, as well as generators. read more

Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Like nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal. read more