CUTTING TOOL MATERIALS

CUTTING TOOLS

TOOLGEOMETRY

Turning

Solid tool Brazed insert Mechanically clamped insert

VIDEO
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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOLGEOMETRY

Turning RAKE FACE

Side rake angle
Major (or side) cutting edge
Minor (or end) Front or back rake angle
cutting edge angle Nose (or corner) radius

MAJOR CLEARANCE (FLANK

Minor (or end) cutting OR RELIEF) FACE
edge Side clearance (or relief) angle

Major (or side or lead) cutting edge angle

MINOR CLEARANCE
(OR FLANK) FACE Front Clearance (or end-relief) angle

Rake angle
Side rake angle Minor cutting
edge angle
RAKE FACE

Major cutting
CLEARANCEF edge angle
Side clearance Clearance angle ACE
angle
VIDEO
3
 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOLGEOMETRY

Drilling
Main cutting
Chisel edge edge
Point angle
Minor cutting Web
Major thickness
edge
flank face

Drill diameter
Helix
Major
angle
cutting edge
Major
Margin flank face
Rake face Rake face

High Speed Steel (HSS) Solid carbide drill

Point angle Point angle

118° 140°
CUTTING TOOLS

5
Inserts and Tool holders
• Individual cutting tools with several
cutting points
• A square insert has 8 cutting points
• The holes in the inserts are used to
fix it to the tool holder.
 CARBIDES - Insert Attachment

• Methods of attaching
inserts to toolholders:
a. Clamping
b. Wing lockpins
c. Examples of inserts
attached to toolholders
with threadless lockpins,
which are secured with
side screws
d. Insert brazed on a tool
shank
 Insert Edge Properties

• Insert shape affects strength of

cutting edge
• To further improve edge
strength and prevent chipping,
all insert edges are usually
honed, chamfered, or
produced with a negative land.
Relative edge strength and tendency for chipping
of inserts with various shapes. Strength refers to
the cutting edge indicated by the included angles.
Source: Courtesy of Kennametal, Inc.
 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Nose radius and Nose angle Chipbreaker

Groove type Obstruction type

Each insert has an

appliation area.

Nose radius Nose angle

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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT Insert fabrication

Powder fabrication VIDEO
Raw material Crushed

Tantalum
Niobium

Titanium

Tungsten
Cobalt carbide

Spray drying

Carbide powder
Ready to be pressed
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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Pressing

Upper and lower
die

Pressing force
20 - 50 t

Die and
center pin

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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Sintering

Sintering duration: 8 hours

Inserts trays Temperature between 1200 - 2200 °C

Insert contraction
(18% in all directions,
50% in volume)

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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Insert grinding

Higer and lower face Free profiling Profiling

Beveling, negative facet Peripheral

Faceta
neg.

Bisel

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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Insert grinding

ER Treatment W/H proportion depends on

(Edge Roundness) the application

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 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) coating

CVD oven
- Large coating thickness. Inserts trays
- Mechanical wear resistance (TiCN).
- Thermal & chemical resistance (Al 2O3).

Al2O3

TiCN

Substrate

15
 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating

PVD oven

-Thin coating thickness.

-Sharp cutting edge.
-Good edge toughness.
-Used in all monoblock rotating tools.
-Can be used with soldered tips.

TiN

Substrate

16
 CUTTING TOOLS

TOOL INSERT

Insert fabrication Visual inspection, marking, packaging

Marking

Visual inspection
Packaging

Labelling

Distribution

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 Cutting Tool Characteristics
1. Maintaining hardness, strength, and wear resistance at elevated
temperatures. This property ensures that the tool does not
undergo any plastic deformation and thus retains its shape and
sharpness.
2. Toughness and impact strength (or mechanical shock resistance),
so that impact forces on the tool that are encountered repeatedly
in interrupted cutting operations or forces due to vibration and
chatter during machining do not chip or fracture the tool.
3. Thermal Shock resistance to withstand the rapid temperature
cycling encountered in interrupted cutting.
4. Chemical stability to avoid or minimize adhesion, and tool-chip
diffusion.
 Tool Materials Categories

1. High-speed steels
2. Cast-cobalt alloys
3. Carbides
4. Coated tools
5. Alumina-based ceramics
6. Cubic boron nitride
7. Silicon-nitride-based ceramics
8. Diamond
 General Properties of Tool Materials
• The properties listed in the first column are useful in
determining desirable tool-material characteristics for a
particular application. For example,
• Hardness and strength are important with respect to the
mechanical properties of the work piece material to be
machined.
• Impact strength is important in making interrupted cuts in
machining, such as in milling.
• Melting temperature of the tool material is important as
compared to the temperatures developed in the cutting zone.
• The thermal properties such as thermal conductivity and
coefficient of thermal expansion are important in determining
the resistance of the tool materials to thermal fatigue and shock.
 1.HIGH SPEED STEELS
• Good wear resistance, relatively inexpensive
• Because of their toughness and high resistance to fracture, HSS are
especially suitable for:
1. high +ve rake-angle tools
2. interrupted cuts

Two basic types of HSS:

• Molybdenum (M series)
Up to about 10% Mo, with Cr, Vn, W, Co as alloying elements
• Tungsten (T series)
12% -18% W, with Cr, Vn, and Co as alloying elements

M series generally has higher abrasion resistance than T series,

undergoes less distortion during heat treating, and is less
expensive
 1.HIGH SPEED STEELS
• List the major alloying elements in HSS and describe their
effects in cutting tools
• Chromium improves toughness, wear resistance, and high-
temperature strength.
• Vanadium improves toughness, abrasion resistance, and hot
hardness.
• Tungsten and cobalt have similar effects, namely, improved
strength and hot hardness.
• Molybdenum improves wear resistance, toughness, and high-
temperature strength and hardness.
 2.CAST-COBALT ALLOYS
• 38%-53% Co, 30%-33% Cr, and 10%-20%W
• High hardness, good wear resistance, can maintain their
hardness at elevated temperatures
• They are not as tough as HSS and are sensitive to impact forces
• Stellite Tools
• These alloys are cast and ground into relatively simple tool
shapes.
• Used only for special applications that involve deep continuous
roughing cuts at relatively high feeds and speeds, as much as
twice the rates possible with HSS
 3.CARBIDES
• The previous tools possess the required toughness, impact strength,
and thermal shock resistance, but they also have important
limitations, particularly with respect to strength and hot hardness.
• Carbides have:
a. Hardness over a wide range of temperatures.
b. high elastic modulus.
c. low thermal expansion.
• Tungsten carbide (WC):
• Composite material consisting of WC particles bonded together in
a cobalt matrix
• Manufactured with powder-metallurgy techniques
• As Co content increases, the strength, hardness, and wear
resistance of WC decrease, while its toughness increases because
of the higher toughness of cobalt
 3.CARBIDES

• Titanium Carbide (TiC):

• Higher wear resistance than WC but is not as tough
• With a nickel-molybdenum alloy as the matrix, TiC is suitable
for machining hard materials, mainly steels and cast irons, and
for cutting at speeds higher than those for WC.
ISO Classification of Carbide
Cutting Tools
 4.COATED TOOLS - Coating Materials
• Coatings thickness of 2-15 μm, are applied on cutting tools and
inserts by the following techniques:
1. Chemical-vapor deposition (CVD)
2. Physical-vapor deposition (PVD)
• Coatings for cutting tools should have the following general
characteristics:
1. High hardness at elevated temperatures
2. Chemical stability to the work piece material
3. Little or no porosity
• Honing of the cutting edges is an important procedure for the
maintenance of coating strength; otherwise, the coating may peel or
chip off at sharp edges
 4.COATED TOOLS - Coating Materials

• Titanium Nitride coating (gold in color):

• low friction coefficient, high hardness, resistance to high
temp, and good adhesion to the substrate.
• perform well at higher cutting speeds and feeds
• Flank wear is significantly lower than that of uncoated tools
• do not perform as well at low cutting speeds because the
coating can be worn off by chip adhesion
• Titanium Carbide coatings:
• WC inserts have high flank-wear resistance in machining
abrasive materials
 Typical Wear Patterns on High-Speed-Steel
Uncoated and Titanium-Nitride Coated Tools

Schematic illustration of typical wear patterns of high-speed-

steel uncoated and titanium-nitride coated tools. Note that flank
wear is significantly lower for the coated tool.
 4.COATED TOOLS - Coating Materials

• Ceramics Coatings:
• Chemical inertness
• Low thermal conductivity
• Resistance to high temperature
• Resistance to flank and crater wear
• Most commonly used ceramic coating aluminum oxide
(Al2O3). However oxide coating generally bond weakly to
the substrate.
 4.COATED TOOLS - Coating Materials

• Multiphase Coatings:
• Carbide tools with 2 or 3 layers of such coatings.
• Particularly effective in machining cast irons and steels.
• Typical applications of multiple-coated tools:
 High-speed, continuous cutting: TiC/Al2O3.
 Heavy-duty, continuous cutting: TiC/Al2O3/TiN.
 Light, interrupted cutting: TiC/TiC + TiN/TiN.
Multiphase Coatings on a Tungsten-Carbide
Substrate

Multiphase coatings on a tungsten-carbide substrate. Three alternating

layers of aluminum oxide are separated by very thin layers of titanium nitride.
Inserts with as many as thirteen layers of coatings have been made. Coating
thicknesses are typically in the range of 2 to 10 μm. Source: Courtesy of
Kennametal, Inc.
 COATED TOOLS - Coating Materials

• Multiphase Coatings:
•Functions of coatings:
1.TiN: low friction
2.Al2O3: high thermal stability
3.TiCN: fiber reinforced with a good balance of resistance to
flank and crater wear for interrupted cutting
4.A thin carbide substrate: high fracture toughness
5.A thick carbide substrate: hard and resistant to plastic
deformation at high temperatures.
 5.ALUMINA-BASED CERAMICS
• Consist primarily of fine-grained, high-purity Al2O3. They are cold-
pressed into insert shapes under high pressure and sintered at high
temp; the end product is referred to as white, or cold-pressed,
ceramics.
• Additions of TiC and ZrO help improve toughness and thermal-
shock resistance.
• Alumina-based ceramic tools have very high abrasion resistance
and hot hardness.
• More stable than HSS and carbides, so they have less tendency to
adhere to metals during cutting leading to lower tendency to form a
BUE.
 6.SILICON-NITRIDE BASED
CERAMICS
• Consist of SiN with various additions of Al2O3, Yttrium oxide,
and TiC
• Toughness, hot hardness, and good thermal-shock resistance.
• An example of a SiN-base material is sialon, composed of : Si,
Al, and N.
• It has higher thermal-shock resistance than silicon nitride
• recommended for machining cast irons and nickel-based
super-alloys at intermediate cutting speeds
• Because of chemical affinity to iron, SiN-based tools are not
suitable for machining steels
 7.CUBIC BORON NITRIDE (CBN)

• Made by bonding 0.5-1-mm layer of polycrystalline CBN to a

carbide substrate by sintering under pressure
• CBN tools are also made in small sizes without a substrate
• Because CBN tools are brittle, stiffness of machine tool and
fixturing is important in order to avoid vibration and chatter
 7.Cubic Boron Nitride Inserts

An insert of polycrystalline cubic boron

nitride or a diamond layer on tungsten
carbide.

Inserts with polycrystalline cubic

boron nitride tips (top row), and solid-
polycrystalline cBN inserts (bottom
row). Source: Courtesy of Valenite.
 8.DIAMOND

• Low friction
• High wear resistance
• Ability to maintain sharp edge
• Used when good surface finish and dimensional accuracy are
req. (soft non-ferrous & abrasive non-metallic materials)
• Used at high speed
• Diamond is not recommended for machining plain carbon
steels or titanium, because of its strong chem. Affinity
Hardness of
Cutting Tool
Materials as a
Function of
Temperature
The hardness of various cutting-
tool materials as a function of
temperature (hot hardness). The
wide range in each group of
materials is due to the variety of
tool compositions and treatments
available for that group.
 Relative Time Required to Machine with
Various Cutting-Tool Materials

Relative time required to machine with various cutting-tool materials, indicating the year the tool
materials were first introduced. Note that machining time has been reduced by two orders of
magnitude with a hundred years. Source: Courtesy of Sandvik.
General Properties of Tool Materials
Operating Characteristics of Cutting-Tool
Materials
Ranges of Mechanical Properties for Groups
of Tool Materials

Ranges of mechanical properties for various groups of tool materials.

General Characteristics of Cutting-Tool Materials