Exploring Age Hardened MP35N and Elgiloy. When designing high-performance medical devices, material selection goes beyond choosing the right alloy—it also includes selecting the right material condition. For engineers working with MP35N and Elgiloy, one of the most common questions is: How hard can these alloys be made?
Both MP35N and Elgiloy are precipitation-hardenable cobalt-based alloys that can be significantly strengthened through cold working and age hardening. By carefully controlling these processes, manufacturers can achieve hardness levels exceeding HV700, resulting in exceptional strength, wear resistance, and fatigue performance for demanding medical and industrial applications.
What Is Age Hardening?
Age hardening, also known as precipitation hardening, is a controlled heat treatment process that increases the strength and hardness of certain alloys after they have been cold worked.
Rather than changing the alloy’s composition, age hardening modifies its internal microstructure, allowing MP35N and Elgiloy to achieve significantly higher mechanical properties while maintaining excellent corrosion resistance and dimensional stability.
For precision micro tubing and tubular components, this enhanced material condition can provide substantial performance advantages over non-age-hardened material.
What Does HV700 Mean?
Vickers Hardness (HV) is one of the most common methods for measuring the hardness of engineering materials. A hardness value of HV700 or greater indicates an extremely hard material capable of resisting deformation and wear under demanding operating conditions.
For MP35N and Elgiloy, achieving hardness above HV700 reflects the combined effects of cold working and controlled age hardening. The resulting material offers an excellent balance of:
- High tensile strength
- Improved wear resistance
- Excellent fatigue performance
- Long-term dimensional stability
- Outstanding corrosion resistance
These characteristics make age-hardened tubing particularly attractive for precision medical components that must perform reliably over extended service life.
Why Hardness Matters
Higher hardness is not simply about making a material stronger—it can directly influence component performance.
For precision micro tubing and tubular components, increased hardness can contribute to:
- Improved wear resistance
- Greater durability
- Enhanced fatigue life
- Better resistance to permanent deformation
- Increased structural integrity in thin-wall designs
These advantages become increasingly important as medical devices continue to shrink while maintaining demanding mechanical performance requirements.
Applications for Age-Hardened MP35N and Elgiloy
Age-hardened MP35N and Elgiloy are commonly selected for applications where high strength, durability, and corrosion resistance must be combined with miniature component designs.
Typical applications include:
- Micro tubing
- Catheter components
- Guidewire assemblies
- Precision dispensing nozzles
- Analytical instrumentation
- Surgical devices
- Custom tubular components
For engineers designing small-diameter, thin-wall components, selecting the appropriate material condition can be just as important as selecting the alloy itself.
Precision Manufacturing of Age-Hardened Components
Manufacturing age-hardened MP35N and Elgiloy components requires careful control throughout the production process. Tube drawing, heat treatment, laser processing, micro machining, and precision finishing must all be coordinated to achieve the desired combination of dimensional accuracy and mechanical performance.
Designing around both advanced alloys and precision tubular processing helps ensure that finished components meet the demanding requirements of medical, analytical, and industrial applications.
Ready to Develop Your MP35N or Elgiloy Component?
Whether you’re specifying age-hardened micro tubing, precision nozzles, or custom tubular components, our engineering team can help identify the right material condition and manufacturing approach for your application.
- Upload your CAD file or drawing
- Discuss material hardness and performance requirements
- Receive engineering support for your custom component