Hi, I reserve the right to be wrong on this...but.

Many years ago (25-30!) I was looking for the nearest thing to medieval steel to make a reproduction crossbow.

I seem to recall EN8 was the closest I could find, it is a low carbon steel but higher than 'run of the mill' mild steel, it can be hardened and tempered into a good spring, I still have the roughly formed bow in my garage, it never got finished!

I think the EN... type grading is now obsolete or if they do exist it is probably Euro-Norm, whereas it probably stood for something else originally!

Hope this helps.

I hope some of this helps, at least to search for more info.

BS 970 080M40
(EN8) A medium strength steel. Suitable for stressed pins, shafts studs, keys etc. Available as rolled or normalised. Supplied as square bar, or round bar or flat.

Subcategory: Carbon Steel; Medium Carbon Steel; Metal; British Designations

Key Words: EN8

Material Notes:
This British mild steel is very similar to the American AISI 1040 mild steel. Please refer to AISI 1040 for additional properties.

Type Of Steel: Constructural; BS Spec (BS970): 080M40; Composition: 0.4% C 0.8%Mn; Condition: HR -> CD (thin); Yield Stress x 10⁶ Pa: 530; Tensile Stress MPa: 660; Elongation %: 7.

From http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Matter/Strength_st.htm

To the best of my knowledge, it is similar to AISI 1040, a general purpose axle material.

Not quite sure how 8 = .40 carbon, but thats probably another thread...

You should define whether or not you need cold drawn or hot rolled material.

En8: Chemical Composition Grade 080M40 Standard BS 970-1 Country Great Britain Heat Analysis Element Symbol Min. Max. Carbon C 0.36 0.44 Manganese Mn 0.6 1.0

milo

Hello Milo, By chance you havn't got the new number for HT45? Very simular to En8 but was harder from what I remember! If not, not to worry!

Good morning Mr Truman Brain.

I do not have any info on this steel in my immediate reach.

I found one reference online that someone is calling it a tool steel.

http://www1.wilsonmfg.com/rotarydies.php

However I could not confirm it at Crucible or in metalinfo.com.

I am currently travelling in Tucson AZ USA and so unable to hit my printed references back at work and home. I will be back next thursday. Until then, perhaps a call to the folks at Wilson above may help you.

Thanks for the query!

milo

My understanding of the designation EN for steel is that it stands for "emergency number" and was created around 1939 or so to standardize steel in Britain during wartime. Prior to this standardisation steel was described by carbon content etc and also by the name of the mill or producer. This was confusing and needed to be sorted out so that engineers could communicate specification. I was told this by an old engineer who remembered the pre-EN codes. The system was useful through the war years and was due to be reviewed and updated after the war. It never happened and we still refer to EN numbers.

i hope it may help....

EN8 mild steel was first used at time of second world war. And here EN refers to Emergency Number and 8 is further subscript to identify. It is a low carbon unalloyed steel and is used greatly in Britain

EN8 Steel

EN8 also know as 080M40. An unalloyed medium carbon steel. EN8 is a medium strength steel, good tensile strength. Suitable for shafts, stressed pins, studs, keys etc. AISI 1040.
Available as normalised or rolled. EN8 is supplied as round drawn/turned, round hot rolled, hexagon, square, flats and plate.

We can also supply EN8D - 080A42 bar with hard chrome plating.

Popular size ranges shown below, other sizes available upon request.

Thanks for information guys...very nice information about EN8 Steel.

Neo Impex