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Cutting Tool Material
Cutting Tool Material
UNIT - 1
J Ranganayakulu
Assistant Professor
- MS (By Research) IIT Madras
- Master of Human Resource Management
- PG. Dip., TQM
Needs And Chronological Development Of
Cutting Tool Materials
• To meet the growing demands for high productivity, quality and
economy of machining
• For micro and even nano machining demanded by the day and
future
The capability and overall performance of the cutting tools depend
upon,
• Hot hardness
• Wear resistance
• Toughness
• Low friction
• Hot hardness – Hot hardness is the ability of a material to retain its hardness
at high temperatures. This is required because of the high-temperature
environment in which the tool operates.
• Toughness – To avoid fracture failure, the tool material must possess high
toughness. Toughness is the capacity of a material to absorb energy without
failing. It is usually characterized by a combination of strength and ductility in
the material.
• Wear resistance – Hardness is the single most important property
needed to resist abrasive wear
should be low which would allow for lower wear rates and better
chip flow
tool temperature will become too high and reduces the tool life.
Typical hot hardness relationships for
selected tool materials
• Plain carbon steel shows a rapid loss of
hardness as temperature increases.
• High speed steel is substantially better,
while cemented carbides and ceramics
are significantly harder at elevated
temperatures
Tool Materials
1. Carbon steels
2. High-speed steels
3. Cast-cobalt alloys
4. Cemented carbides
5. Coated carbides
6. Ceramics
7. Diamond
• Its good hot hardness permits tools made of HSS to be used at higher
cutting speeds.
• HSS cutters possess better toughness than any of the harder non-
steel tool materials used for machining, such as cemented carbides
and ceramics.
• The tool geometry and mechanics of chip formation are complex, such
as helical twist drills, reamers, gear shaping cutters, hobs, form tools,
broaches etc.
• Brittle tools like carbides, ceramics etc. are not suitable under shock
loading
• The old or low powered small machine tools cannot accept high speed
and feed.
WC.
• When the straight WC–Co tools were used to cut steel, crater wear
machine steel.
• Additions of titanium carbide and tantalum carbide to the WC–Co mix
The result is that cemented carbides are divided into two basic types:
(2) Steel-cutting grades, with combinations of TiC and TaC added to the
WC–Co.
• Non steel-cutting grades refer to those cemented carbides that are
• In the non steel-cutting grades, grain size and cobalt content are
material.
• Steel-cutting grades are used for low carbon, stainless, and other alloy
steels.
• This composition increases the crater wear resistance for steel cutting,
but tends to adversely affect flank wear resistance for nonsteel-cutting
applications.
• Coated carbides are a cemented carbide insert coated with one
multiple layers.
• The first layer applied to the WC–Co base is usually TiN or TiCN because
oxide (Al2O3), pressed and sintered at high pressures and temperatures with
• The aluminum oxide is usually very pure (99% is typical), although some
• In producing ceramic tools, it is important to use a very fine grain size in the
high cutting speeds, low feeds and depths, and a rigid work setup.
mechanical shock.
• When properly applied, ceramic cutting tools can be used to obtain
carbide.
Boring bar made of cemented carbide (WC–Co)
that uses indexable cemented carbide inserts
• known, and its fabrication into cutting tool inserts is basically the same
• Cubic boron nitride (symbolized cBN) does not react chemically with iron
• Both SPD and cBN tools are expensive, as one might expect, and the
• They are available in a variety of shapes and sizes for the variety of
• In general, the largest point angle should be selected for strength and
economy.
• Round inserts possess large point angles (and large nose radii) just because
of their shape.
• Inserts with large point angles are inherently stronger and less likely to chip or
break during cutting, but they require more power, and there is a greater
likelihood of vibration.
• The economic advantage of round inserts is that they can be
• If both sides of the insert can be used (e.g., in most negative rake
can be used not only for turning but also for facing (a), and