Increased sulfur levels result in higher levels of manganese sulfide inclusions in these steels.

These manganese sulfide inclusions reduce machining loads and toowear, as well as provide better chip disposability and breakage characteristics when compared to lower sulfur steels. The effect of sulfur on machinability is illustrated in Figure 1. The lubricating effect of sulfides, as well as their contribution to chip breakage, is shown in Figure 2.

The chemical compositions of Bethlehem's free-machining steels are summarized in Table 1.

Bethlehem Lukens Plate Products

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