SAE 1020 Carbon Steel | AISI 1020 Steel Bar

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SAE 1020 Basic Information Introduction

SAE 1020 steel is a high-quality low-carbon carbon structural steel in the American SAE/AISI standard system.

As a representative of low-carbon steel, SAE 1020 steel is renowned for its good toughness, excellent cold and hot working properties, and weldability.

SAE 1020 steel can have its surface hardness and wear resistance effectively improved through carburizing and quenching heat treatment processes, while maintaining good core toughness. It is widely used in industries such as automotive manufacturing and machinery equipment, primarily for manufacturing parts with low stress but high toughness requirements.

SAE 1020 STEEL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

Grade	C	Si	Mn	P	S
1020	0.18-0.23	0.15-0.35	0.30-0.60	≤0.04	≤0.05
20#	0.17-0.23	0.17-0.37	0.35-0.65	≤0.035	≤0.035

SAE 1020 STEEL PHYSICAL PROPERTY

Density: 7.85-7.87 g/cm³
Melting point: 1420-1460°C
Elastic modulus: 190-210 GPa
Poisson’s ratio: 0.27-0.30
Thermal conductivity (25℃): 46.6-51.9 W/(m·K)
Specific heat capacity (20℃): approx.460 J/(kg・K)
Linear expansion coefficient (20~100℃): 11.7-12.5×10⁻⁶/℃
Resistivity: 0.11-0.13 Ω·mm²/m

SAE 1020 STEEL FORGING

As a low-carbon, high-quality carbon structural steel, SAE 1020 steel exhibits excellent plasticity and thermal conductivity.

It also possesses excellent forging properties, showing no significant tendency towards cold brittleness or hardening, making it suitable for various forging methods such as free forging and die forging.

Preheating	Initial forging temperature	Final forging temperature	Forging ratio
600-650°C	1150-1200°C	850-900℃	≥4:1

For 1020 steel, the post-forging cooling method is very simple:air cooling in still air.Furthermore, rapid cooling is still prohibited.

SAE 1020 STEEL HEAT TREATMENT

1020 steel, with an average carbon content of 0.2%, has a significantly different heat treatment method compared to 1045 steel: 1020 steel cannot achieve high strength and hardness through direct quenching; therefore, it requires carburizing and quenching to achieve final strengthening.

Furthermore, before final heat treatment, 1020 steel can undergo normalizing and annealing processes to relieve stress, improve machinability, and optimize its microstructure.

SAE 1020 Steel Normalizing

Normalizing is the most common and economical heat treatment process for 1020 steel.

Temperature	Cooling method	Process time	Microstructure	Grain size	Hardness
880-920°C	Air cooling	2-3 days	Fine pearlite+ferrite	6-8	120-160 HBW

SAE 1020 Steel Annealing

Annealing is a long process for 1020 steel, so it is not as commonly used as normalizing.

Full annealing	Soften Annealing	Stress-relief Annealing
860-880°C	700-720°C	600-650°C

SAE 1020 Steel Case Hardening

Carburizing + quenching + low-temperature tempering.This is the core heat treatment process for 1020 steel,aiming to achieve high surface hardness and wear resistance, and high core toughness and impact resistance.