What is CPM S30V?

What is CPM S30V?

CPM® S30V® is a martensitic stainless steel designed to offer the best combination of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Its chemistry has been specially balanced to promote the formation of vanadium carbides which are harder and more effective than chromium carbides in providing wear resistance.

What is S30V and why should I Care?

The alloy composition creates an even distribution of vanadium carbides that improve sharpness and edge retention. S30V has become pervasive in the knife community, though it does vary depending on who does the heat treatment.

What is S30V steel?

S30V is a knife steel produced by Crucible, released at the end of 2001 [1]. Crucible has been a part of the knife steel industry for many decades, such as with steels like 154CM which was developed in the late 1950’s and gained popularity in knives through Bob Loveless in the early 1970s. I wrote about the history of 154CM in this article.

What is the edge retention of S30V?

The edge retention of S30V is still pretty good relative to other knife steels, better than steels like XHP, Elmax, 154CM, 440C, etc. It is a bit below steels like ZDP-189, S90V, and 20CV/M390. With my own CATRA experiments the relative position of S30V is approximately the same, but I will be talking about those experiments in a future article.