The Ways to Improve the Performance of Carbide Inserts(1)
Concerning the carbide base, what we can do? If it is easy for you, please take the carbide cutting tools beside of you to mill or turn H13 and D2 hardened steel workpiece.As all the mould manufacturer know, not every mould steel has the same property. In reality, if you once experienced the difference from machining T20 steel to D2 hardened one, we believe you could understand the meaning of the article to express, this point is very critical, actually it is also suitable for tungsten carbide base materials. As per the definition of grain size, tungsten carbide material is divided into 4 types.
1）Fine tungsten carbide, grain size 1.0~1.3um
2）Extra fine tungsten carbide, grain size:0.6~0.9um
3）Super fine tungsten carbide,grain size:0.4~0.5um
4）Nano-fine tungsten carbide,grain size:0.1~0.3um
The finer grain size,the higher hardness and also the better wear-resistance. Furthermorem,two critical factors related to tungsten carbide base,toughness and hardness.
1) Toughness
The basic definition for toughness is radial strength(N/mm) imposed on the specimen before making it fracture.Usually taking transverse rupture strength as metric to toughness.
2) Hardness
Hardness is simply tested with a flintily ball put on the specimen under exact loading and precisely measured the size of impression on its surface.The harder of the material,the stronger of the deformation-resistance capability.
The cobalt content of tungsten carbide directly effects the transverse strength and hardness,which is main binder element in tungsten carbide material.The T.R.S increases with increase of cobalt,but also lead decrease of hardness,resulted in reduction of wear-resistance.On the contrary,the hardness and wear resistance increase with decrease of cobalt,but also toughness down.
The excellent cutting tools manufacturer could use different base material for different application after master of various materials’ performance difference(from machining of easy-warp aluminum material to high speed milling of hardened mould steels) to design special cutting tools.
