One of the most important parts for pellet-mills is the die, since the die transforms raw materials in small cylinders called pellets. In this paper, a failure analysis was conducted for a pellet-mill die that had not reached its service life expectancy. The failure analysis consist of a characterization of the material using atomic emission spectroscopy, hardness measurements, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy by SEM. Additionally, visual inspection and fractography of the fracture surfaces and FE analysis were performed. It was found that the die material was a CA40 alloy, which microstructure consists of a martensitic matrix with finely dispersed carbides of the type M23C6. Also, a non-common level of inclusion type Al2O3 was found on the microstructure of the die material. According to the fractographic analysis, the crack initiation was located in a high-stress concentration region on the counterbored holes of the die, and also aided by the inclusions on the structure. Crack propagated along the material as an intergranular brittle fracture.