In every machining system, one simply cannot ignore the important role that cutting tools play. Often the quality of a finished product will depend on the quality of the cutting tools. The quality and performance of cutting tools would also directly affect the overall productivity of a machining system. Due to its importance, manufacturers would consider several criteria before purchasing a cutting tool part for their machining system. Included in these criteria are the tools’ ability to last a long time under severe operating conditions and their ability to run at very high speeds. Also important is the tool’s resistance to wear, including resistance to breakage, edge and flank wear, cratering or top wear, chipping, accumulated edge (BUE), warping, and cracking. thermal.
1. Types of tools
As the demand for better cutting tools increases, cutting tool suppliers are also continually developing products that can exceed manufacturers’ demands. Over the years, a large number of materials have been experimented with for the manufacture of cutting tools; some have exceeded the standards, while others were simply discarded. Today, there are only two types of cutting tools that are highly favored in the machining industry: high-speed steel (HSS) cutting tools and carbide cutting tools; and it seems that carbide cutting tools have slightly surpassed the others in popularity. So what advantages do carbide cutting tools have over their HSS counterparts? Considering their leadership in popularity, it’s clear that the benefits of carbide cutting tools outnumber those of HSS cutting tools. And we will better understand these benefits if we know what carbide really is.
2. What is carbide?
In chemistry, carbides refer to any group of compounds made up of carbon and another element that can be a metal, boron, or silicon. There are actually many compounds that belong to this group, the most popular of which include:
– Calcium carbide
– Aluminum carbide
– Silicium carbide
– Tungsten carbide
– iron carbide
3. Industrial uses of carbide
In the 20th century carbides have been used for many industrial applications. Carbides used in industrial applications are often called cemented carbide products and are classified into three main grades:
– Degrees of wear
It is mainly used in dies, machine guides and tools.
– Degrees of impact
Higher impact resistant carbide products used for dies, particularly for stamping and forming
– Grades of cutting tools
Carbide tools used for cutting
4. Carbide cutting tools
Cutting tool carbide grades are subdivided into two groups: cast iron carbides and steel carbides. As the name implies, cast iron carbides are made specifically for cutting cast iron materials. These carbides are more resistant to abrasive wear, protecting the carbide cutting tool from edge wear due to the high abrasiveness of cast iron. Steel carbides, on the other hand, are specially made to resist cratering and heat distortion that long steel chips can cause at higher cutting speeds. Whichever grade of carbide is used in a carbide cutting tool, the primary carbide material used in its manufacture is tungsten carbide (WC) with a cobalt binder. Tungsten carbide is well known for its hardness and resistance to abrasive wear. Cobalt, on the other hand, is used to further harden the surface of the tool.
5. Other variants
Apart from tungsten carbide and cobalt, other alloying materials are added in the manufacture of carbide cutting tools. Among them is titanium carbide and tantalum carbide. Titanium carbide helps the carbide cutting tool resist cratering, while tantalum carbide can reduce heat distortion in the tool. Also commonly used in the cutting industry today are coated carbide cutting tools. In addition to the basic carbide materials, titanium carbide, titanium nitride, ceramic coating, diamond coating or titanium carbonitride are used as coating materials. Different coating materials help the carbide cutting tool in different ways, although they are generally used to further harden the cutting tool.
6. Benefits of carbide cutting tools
– Hardness
– Exceptional resistance to abrasion
– Greater resistance to wear
– Resistance to cratering
– Resistance to thermal deformations
– High modulus of elasticity
– Chemical inertness
– Torsion resistance twice that of HSS
– Compressive strength