Scribd
Upload
6 views3 pages

3

The document discusses the classification and characteristics of cemented tungsten carbide tooling materials, which are divided into wear grades, impact grades, and cutting tool grades based on their applications. It emphasizes the importance of selecting the correct carbide grade for specific tasks, highlighting the differences in wear resistance and tool properties required for cutting cast iron versus steel. Additionally, it details the role of cobalt as a binder and the impact of carbide grain size on tool hardness and strength.

Uploaded by

smartsaikumar322
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
6 views3 pages

3

The document discusses the classification and characteristics of cemented tungsten carbide tooling materials, which are divided into wear grades, impact grades, and cutting tool grades based on their applications. It emphasizes the importance of selecting the correct carbide grade for specific tasks, highlighting the differences in wear resistance and tool properties required for cutting cast iron versus steel. Additionally, it details the role of cobalt as a binder and the impact of carbide grain size on tool hardness and strength.

Uploaded by

smartsaikumar322
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Chap.

1: Cutting-Tool Materials
6 Tooling & Production/Chapter 1 www.toolingandproduction.com
A more detailed schematic diagram
of the cemented tungsten carbide manufacturing
process is shown in Figure
1.8.
1.3.2 Classification of Carbide Tools
Cemented carbide products are classified
into three major grades:
Wear Grades: Used primarily in
dies, machine and tool guides, and in
such everyday items as the line guides
on fishing rods and reels; anywhere
good wear resistance is required.
Impact Grades: Also used for dies,
particularly for stamping and forming,
and in tools such as mining drill heads.
Cutting Tool Grades: The cutting
tool grades of cemented carbides are
divided into two groups depending on
their primary application. If the carbide
is intended for use on cast iron which is
a nonductile material, it is graded as a
cast iron carbide. If it is to be used to
cut steel, a ductile material, it is graded
as a steel grade carbide.
Cast iron carbides must be more
resistant to abrasive wear. Steel carbides
require more resistance to cratering
and heat. The tool wear characteristics
of various metals are different,
thereby requiring different tool properties.
The high abrasiveness of cast iron
causes mainly edge wear to the tool.
The long chip of steel, which flows
across the tool at normally higher cutting
speeds, causes mainly cratering and
heat deformation to the tool. Tool wear
characteristics and chip formation will
be discussed in Chapter 2.
It is important to choose and use the
correct carbide grade for each job application.
There are several factors that
make one carbide grade different from
another and therefore more suitable for
a specific application. The carbide
grades may appear to be similar, but the
difference between the right and wrong
carbide for the job, can mean the difference
between success and failure.
Figure 1.8 illustrates how carbide is
manufactured, using pure tungsten carbide
with a cobalt binder. The pure
tungsten carbide makes up the basic carbide
tool and is often used as such, particularly
when machining cast iron.
This is because pure tungsten carbide is
extremely hard and offers the best resistance
to abrasive wear.
Large amounts of tungsten carbide
are present in all of the grades in the two
cutting groups and cobalt is always used
as the binder. The more common alloying
additions to the basic
tungsten/cobalt material are: tantalum
carbide, and titanium carbide.
While some of these alloys may be
present in cast iron grades of cutting
tools, they are primarily added to steel
grades. Pure tungsten carbide is the
most abrasive-resistant and will work
most effectively with the abrasive
nature of cast iron. The addition of the
alloying materials such as tantalum carbide
and titanium carbide offers many
benefits:
• The most significant benefit of titanium
carbide is that it reduces cratering
of the tool by reducing the tendency
of the long steel chips to erode
the surface of the tool.
• The most significant contribution of
tantalum carbide is that it increases
the hot hardness of the tool which, in
turn, reduces thermal deformation.
Varying the amount of cobalt binder
in the tool material largely affects both
the cast iron and steel grades in three
ways. Cobalt is far more sensitive to
heat than the carbide around it. Cobalt
is also more sensitive to abrasion and
chip welding. Therefore, the more
cobalt present, the softer the tool is,
making it more sensitive to heat deformation,
abrasive wear, and chip welding
and leaching which causes cratering.
On the other hand, cobalt is stronger
than carbide. Therefore more cobalt
improves the tool strength and resistance
to shock. The strength of a carbide
tool is expressed in terms of
‘Transverse Rupture Strength’ (TRS).
Figure 1.9 shows how Transverse
Rupture Strength is measured.
The third difference between the cast
iron and steel grade cutting tools, is carbide
grain size. The carbide grain size
is controlled by the ball mill process.
There are some exceptions, such as
micro-grain carbides, but generally the
smaller the carbide grains, the harder
the tool. Conversely, the larger the carbide
grain, the stronger the tool.
Carbide grain sizes at 1500x magnification
are shown in Exhibits 1.10 and
1.11.
In the C- classification method
(Figure 1.12), grades C-1 through C-4
are for cast iron and grades C-5 through
C-8 for steel. The higher the C- number
in each group, the harder the grade, the
lower the C- number, the stronger the
grade. The harder grades are used for
finish cut applications; the stronger
grades are used for rough cut applications.
Many manufacturers produce and
Figure 1.9. The method used to measure Transverse Rupture Strength (TRS) is shown as
well as the relationship of TRS to cobalt (Co) content.
Figure 1.10. Carbide grain size (0.8
micron WC @ 1500) consisting of 90%
WC and 10% Co.
Figure 1.11. Carbide grain size (7 microns
WC @ 1500) consisting of 90% WC and

You might also like