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FLEXOR® Superior Steel Alternative to

4130 Alloy Steel

Pennsylvania Steel Corporation offers an alternative to SAE 4130 alloy steel.

We produce FLEXOR® steel to be similar if not superior in its chemical and chemistry properties to 4130 steel. Taking this into account, it is suitable and can be utilized in most of the same applications as 4130 alloy steel: Automotive, Oil and Gas Drilling, Forging, Warm and Cold Forming, Performance racing, Powdered Metal, Die Casting, Machine Building, Tool Making, Work-holding, Transfer Systems, among many others.

Being a proprietary grade, Pennsylvania Steel ensures that all FLEXOR® heats meet the high quality, vacuum degas electric arc furnace melt process in order to insure cleanliness, grain refinement and maximum reduction ratios.

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4130 chromoly aisi & sae alloy steel

4130 Alloy Steel Mechanical Properties

Properties Metric Imperial
Tensile strength, ultimate 560 MPa 81200 psi
Tensile strength, yield 460 MPa 66700 psi
Modulus of elasticity 190-210 GPa 27557-30458 ksi
Bulk modulus (Typical for steel) 140 GPa 20300 ksi
Shear modulus (Typical for steel) 80 GPa 11600 ksi
Poissons ratio 0.27-0.30 0.27-0.30
Elongation at break (in 50 mm) 21.50% 21.50%
Reduction of area 59.6 59.60%
Hardness, Brinell 217 217
Hardness, Knoop (Converted from Brinell hardness) 240 240
Hardness, Rockwell B (Converted from Brinell hardness) 95 95
Hardness, Rockwell C (Converted from Brinell hardness, value below normal HRC range, for comparison purposes only.) 17 17
Hardness, Vickers (Converted from Brinell hardness) 228 228
Machinability (Annealed and cold drawn. Based on 100% machinability for AISI 1212 steel.) 70 70

Typical FLEXOR® Mechanical Properties (Based upon 1.00” dia.)

Mechanical Properties 30 HRC 40 HRC 45 HRC
UTS(ksi) Per ASTM E8-04 147 183 225
YS 0.2% offset Per ASTM E8-04 134 171 205
V-Notch Charpy Impact Per ASTM E23-06 80 45 21
RA% Per ASTM E8-04 64 60 50
Elongation Per ASTME E8-04 21 18 12
Poisson's Ratio per ASTM E111-04   .282  
Young's Modulus per ASTM E111   30900 (ksi)  

4130 Alloy Steel Chemistry Composition

Alloy 4130 FLEXOR®
Carbon, C .28-.33 .32-.36

Manganese, Mn

.40-.60 .60-.80

Phosphorous, P

.035(max) .025(max)

Sulfur, S

.04(max) .025(max)

Silicon, Si

.15-.35 .15-.30

Chromium, Cr

.80-1.10 .75-1.00

Molybdenum, Mo

.15-.25 .40-.60

Tungsten, W

- .40-.70

Often the limitations and inconsistencies of common 4130 alloy steel can be frustrating and may jeopardize the success of your project or application.

Contact Pennsylvania Steel Corporation today to learn more about FLEXOR® and its advantages over 4130 alloy steel. 

FLEXOR® Properties

FLEXOR®'s dependable quality and adaptability in heat treatment allows for a wide range of physical properties that are more appealing than those of typical ASTM, AISI or SAE 4130 alloy steel.

FLEXOR® has a higher core hardness which typically means a more uniform hardness through any cross section. The more uniform the hardness along with a fine grain microstructure yields a higher fatigue and tensile strength for difficult applications. Please compare total percentage of alloy below.

FLEXOR® Sizes & Conditions

FLEXOR® steel is available in a variety of sizes and conditions. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Decarb free alloys
  • Hot rolled flats
  • Hot rolled rounds
  • Hot rolled plates
  • Peeled steel bars
  • Turned forged rounds and billet
  • Ground and polished rounds

Questions? Ask Our FLEXOR® Experts

Give us a call or fill out the form below and one of our team members will be in touch as soon as possible.
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1-866-935-3967