This document covers the NADCA #207-2025 acceptance criteria for procurement and heat treatment of high-quality die steel for extended die life. The steel acceptance criteria include chemical composition, hardness range, microcleanliness levels, ultrasonic requirements, microstructural requirements, and impact strength capability. The heat treatment acceptance criteria include furnace requirements; pre-heating, austenitizing, and tempering temperatures and times; quenching requirements; microstructural requirements; and, hardness and impact strength testing. These acceptance criteria are defined for seven grades of steel - Grades A-I. In addition, a brief weld repair procedure is included in the document.
The latest • 2025 revision refines the definitions for “maximum controlling cross sections” to be used for heat treatment and thermocouple locations in the loads. For the Certificate of Conformance starting on page 11, the Sections “S” and “T” were removed as this testing is completed by the end user or testing facility. This latest revision also has the added NADCA grades of “H” and “I” for modified 2367 with high vanadium and H11 modified with increased Carbon.
These criteria are not intended for all die casting applications. They apply where high volume production and/or critical performance is required. Die casters and tool builders should insist that certification of the material quality accompany each piece of special quality die steel purchased for use in die casting dies and that certification of the heat treatment quality accompany each furnace load of special quality die steel hardened in accordance with this protocol.
For applications requiring a high level of material quality and heat treatment quality, a variety of commercially available special quality die steels are listed in this specification, designated as Grade B (Superior Grade H13) through Grades G (other steel grades), Class 1 or 2, and should meet the appropriate requirements of NADCA #207-2025.
For applications requiring a lesser level of material quality and/or heat treatment quality, Premium Grade H13 die steel is available and should meet the requirements of NADCA #207-2025 as Grade A, Class 1 or 2.
Updated in 2025 formatting, content and 5 new steels added to specification.
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