Vanadium is present in all high speed steel grades. unfortunately vanadium not only very expensive but is also a will known cytotoxic metal. some workers get severe persistent cough lasts for months for just contact with vanadium containing dust or vapors which are present in any workshop !!
I searched a lot but can not find any high speed steels without vanadium , except some research grades which replaced vanadium by niobium but unfortunately niobium forms very coarse carbides which are so detrimental to steel toughness.
so my question is if there is vanadium-free high speed steels or any temper-resisting steels with similar hardness exist ?