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High speed steels (often abbreviated HSS) are ferrous based alloys of the Fe–C–X multicomponent system where X represents a group of alloying elements comprising mainly Cr, W or Mo, V, and Co. These steels are mainly used for cutting tools, since they are characterized by their capacity to retain a high level of hardness while cutting metals at high speed. Generally, the X component is present in excess of 7%, along with more than 0.60% carbon.
The oxide layer produced is porous thereby retaining oil which lowers friction in ferrous applications, thus avoiding the problems of pick-up, cold welding on taps and ‘built-up edge’ on cutting edges.
