high-speed steel

American  

noun

1. an especially hard, heat-resistant steel for use in lathe tools and for other applications involving high friction and wear.

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high-speed steel British  

noun

1. any of various steels that retain their hardness at high temperatures and are thus suitable for making tools used on lathes and other high-speed machines

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Etymology

Origin of high-speed steel

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

high-speed steel

For other makes of high-speed steel used in lathe and planer tools the makers recommend that the tools be cut from the bar with a hack saw or else heated and cut with a chisel.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

An ideal analysis for high-speed steel containing 18 per cent tungsten is a chromium content of approximately 3.85 per cent; vanadium, 0.85 to 1.10 per cent, and carbon, between 0.62 and 0.77 per cent.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

This characteristic led to the term "red-hardness," and it is this property that has made possible the use of very high cutting speeds in tools made of the tungsten-chromium alloy, that is, "high-speed" steel.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

A larger furnace for high-speed steel is given in Fig.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)

Vanadium was first introduced in high-speed steel as a "scavenger," thereby producing a more homogeneous product, of greater density and physical strength.

From The Working of Steel Annealing, Heat Treating and Hardening of Carbon and Alloy Steel by Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert)