Innovative tools show the future direction of manufacturing

Faced with increasing tool quality requirements and rising tool cost pressures, the balance between quality, efficiency and cost is increasingly becoming the focus of production companies. In view of the continuous development of high-speed machine tools, high-speed milling, composite machining, and micro-shape cutting have become the main directions for the development of cutting technology. This paper introduces a number of the latest cutting tool technologies in combination with practical applications. They not only have their advanced nature, but also have strong practicality, reflecting the development direction of new manufacturing industries in the future.

The new concept of gear processing - "deformation hob"

In close cooperation with customers and machine tool builders, LMT-FETTE and Liebherr Group jointly developed a three-in-one combination gear machining tool. It replaces the three-step machining process of roughing-deburring-shaving on different machine tools in the past, using a roughing hob, a deburring chamfering cutter and a finishing hob "deformation hob" (Twist-Free-Hob) is mounted on the same shank so that the three steps of roughing hobbing, flank chamfering and gear finishing can be done on the same machine.

Gear cutting and deburring are done on the same machine. All the tools are mounted on one shank without any additional manual or machine grinding, and no need to add deburring machines and tools. This is the most economical gear finishing, especially for mass production of gears of the same or similar specifications. Moreover, roughing and finishing hobs can also be designed independently, with optimized number of teeth, number of slots, and special tooth profiles. In this way, the roughing hob can use the fastest machining speed without having to take into account the final tooth profile quality of the workpiece. The finishing hob "de-forming hob" does not require a large number of cutting single re-grinding, and the production batch is significantly higher than those of the coarse and fine machining hob. By correcting the tooth profile error with a finishing hob, a spur gear and a helical gear with no tooth error can be machined. The hob uses a diagonal hobbing method to eliminate the tooth profile error while hobbing the allowance, providing higher gear load carrying capacity and smooth running.

Blue Flags - Fitt also developed gear chamfering tools to save the cost of removing gear burrs. The first chamfering cutter removes the burrs on the top of the gear and chamfers. The second chamfering knife removes the root burr and chamfers.

Schnell tools with special materials and special coatings
In innovative cutting technologies such as Hard Milling, High Speed ​​Milling (HSM) and precision machining, Schnell's tools are known for their high speed, long life and high cost performance. Its tooling products feature advanced hardware and software technology, patents and know-how, and use special tool materials and special coatings. The coating technology is tailor-made by internationally renowned companies. The tool materials are made of advanced powder metallurgical sintering technology from Switzerland and Germany. The material particles are nano-sized fine particles with a diameter of 0.2μm or less and are equipped with super-hard surface NOVA coating or High life LL coating. It can be used for high-speed machining of various hardened die steels and quenched alloy tool steels. The highest hardness of the machined parts is HRC70. This series of tools is the first to enter the traditional forbidden zone of cutting HRC70 hard quenching die steel, which poses a challenge to the EDM process.

The dazzling metallic blue LL coating is an ultra long life coating developed in 2005 using nanotechnology. Schnell bought out the exclusive use of the product for 4 years. Experiments have shown that the LL-coated tool can make the operator more comfortable in the practical process of processing the hard-hardened steel material exceeding HRC70, just as it is to use ordinary tools to process ordinary hardness materials. In addition, tool life with LL coatings can be extended by a factor of two to three compared to conventional coatings, which significantly reduces production costs.

SS coating is an advanced ultra-smooth coating technology developed by Schneider Research. The use of this coating in the cutting of conventional hard steel or other metallic materials can significantly enhance the stability of the process and achieve a smoother surface. Under the same processing parameters, the ultra-smooth SS coating can overcome the sticking phenomenon and eliminate the blade blade. If the cavity surface of the injection mold is machined with a ball cutter, the effect of direct injection molding without polishing can be achieved.

Sandivik GC4225 (Breakthrough No. 1) - comprehensively improve the turning performance of steel parts
Parts, processes, materials, processing conditions, and blade sizes have changed significantly in the range of general steel turning applications (ISOP25 applications). No machining range is the same as the P25 grade, which has such a demanding requirement for the P25 cutting tools. How to get the best results with the same blade grade is a huge challenge for the metal cutting industry.

As a product of the contingency challenge, Sandvik Coromant has developed a new generation of P25 grades, GC4225 (Breakthrough No.1), which is an upgraded version of the GC4025 grade, which provides a strong versatility. Versatile solution. Depending on its optimized performance and high reliability, it is possible to increase production efficiency by applying higher cutting parameters and to adapt to changes in workpiece materials and increasingly demanding operating requirements.

Referring to the importance of dealing with unpredictable blade wear, try the processing of aircraft landing gear (alloy steel). The typical procedure is to perform two semi-finishings (up to 8 mm) and then perform a finishing (cutting depth of 1 mm) to allow for machining allowance for the next process. The insert must meet the exacting requirements of both processes in order to maintain good chip control and constant tool life in order to complete the entire cutting process.

First, the GC4225 grade improves the shape of the P25 insert and broadens the range of applications for ordinary steel turning inserts. Secondly, both blade toughness and wear resistance are improved, providing the potential for a variety of demanding processes. Third, by continuously reducing the types of harmful wear, tool life has doubled compared to older models. And because the wear can be predicted more accurately to avoid destructive wear, the overall cost of the steel turning process can be reduced, which is quite attractive to the shop. Fourth, it has the predictability of tool life and further improves the adhesion of the coating, which significantly improves the edge safety of the blade. Fifth, improve heat resistance and achieve better durability.

As for the potential of the new grades for a variety of demanding processes, the machining of automotive crankshafts, for example, involves the turning of steel forgings and the demanding intermittent cutting. This should be classified as a P25 application range and is usually machined with a more tough P35 grade blade with a tool life of 44 parts per cutting edge. The actual test result is: the old P25 grade has only the tool life of 14 parts, while the GC4225 grade has the tool life of 41 parts, which has approached the wear level of the P35 grade. It can also be verified that Sandvik Coromant has the strength to cope with challenges as a well-known brand in the tool field.

Fast metal cutting - new ISCAR tool

ISCAR's new 2006 product covers milling, turning, hole machining, and multi-tools as an important complement to fast metal cutting (FMR). This confirms ISCAR's philosophy of encouraging users to access the latest cutting technology and upgrading their tools and production processes accordingly to achieve better performance and features in cutting, just as computer users are constantly updating their hardware and software.

In 2005 and 2006, the company implemented a comprehensive upgrade of the tools, improved penetration into the coating, cemented carbide substrate, cutting edge geometry, product line and other aspects. First, the alloy grades were upgraded: AL-TEC (PVD coating) is mainly used to process ductile iron; α-TEC (CVD coating) is the main processing of gray cast iron; DO-TEC (CVD+PVD composite coating, more strength) High) brings about a revolution in cast iron processing. Moreover, thanks to the successful application of state-of-the-art alloy grades for more efficient and economical machining, the number of cutting edges per blade design is greater.

In addition, “mini design” is another concept of new product development. For example, a mini-head milling cutter is used to design a high-feed-rate dense-toothed milling cutter. Thanks to the small size of the blade and its vertical structure design, more milling cutter outer diameter can be designed compared to conventional milling cutters.

UPGRADE's milling cutter - HELICOCTOFEED octagonal flying saucer milling cutter combines the advantages of a three-blade UFO cutter and an octagonal blade, allowing more inserts per blade to be used for efficient machining; UFO King Kong has a large arc-shaped knife The head can realize high-speed feed in a small depth of cut; the finished wave end mill can realize the single hard alloy end mill to complete the rough finishing at the same time. When this advantage is applied to slot milling, 90° shoulder milling, and pocket milling, high quality surfaces can be obtained with rough machining parameters.

It is reflected in the hole processing, which can make the processing diameter range wider. The introduction of several multi-functional tools is in line with the needs of composite processing. Such as modular quick-change cutting units for turning-milling machining centers; and multi-tool holders for turning, drilling, milling and threading, single tools; and DR-MF multi-function drills, available at CNC The lathe is equipped with a single tool for a variety of machining applications such as outer turning, inner hole turning, drilling, and face turning.

Hitachi high feed arc angle milling cutter ASR multi-blade type (ultra-lubricated film JX coated blade)

Hitachi's newly developed high-feed arc angle ASR multi-blade milling cutter can perform small depth-depth and high-feed machining, which can greatly improve the production efficiency of the rough machining of the mold. The advantage of small depth of cut and high feed machining is that it can reduce the depth of cut and, if possible, increase the feed rate of the machine tool, so that after roughing, a near-required finished shape is formed, which improves the overall production efficiency. On the contrary, the use of a circular blade to increase the depth of cut to improve the cutting efficiency will leave a large amount of machining residual after processing, reducing the efficiency of finishing.
The key to improving the efficiency of small depth of cut and high feed machining is multi-blade and blade coating for high speed machining. The combination of ASR multi-blade milling cutters and JX coatings enables high-speed and efficient roughing even when milling is performed on state-of-the-art machining machines. For example, in the case of trial processing with light machining, the shank Φ32-5 blade (ASRM2032R-5 cutter head replaceable type), the blade material JX1045, and the cut material 40CrMnMo7 (corresponding to SKT3) can obtain the following excellent parameters: cutting The speed is Vc=300 mm/min (rotation speed n=3000/min); the feed speed is Vf=50 m/min (1 blade feed amount fz=3.3 mm/blade); depth of cut ap×ae=0.3 mm×25 mm.

First of all, the ASR multi-blade milling cutter can reduce the size of the cutting edge as much as possible without affecting the cutting edge strength, and the number of cutting edges of the milling cutter can be multi-bladed. Taking the outer diameter Φ32 as an example, the ASR multi-blade type is not only expanded to five blades, but also the feed rate during processing is increased by 2.5 times compared with the conventional two-blade.

As for the advantages of the high feed milling cutter, the circular insert itself has the advantage of a large depth of cut, but the higher the cutting resistance due to the increased contact point of the cutting edge with the workpiece, making the machining in the case of high feed difficult. In addition, since the tool protrudes long, the circular blade is more likely to be shaken when it is subjected to a cutting force in the lateral direction. The ASR multi-blade milling cutter adopts a unique design with axial force. Even if the tool protrudes longer, the cutter body is less likely to shake, ensuring stable machining. At the same time, the shorter cutting edge of the miniaturized insert means a reduction in the cutting resistance, which also effectively suppresses the increase in resistance caused by the multi-blade.

Secondly, Hitachi has developed a blade coating JX coating that significantly inhibits crater wear, peripheral edge wear and edge sticking. The coating is a film in which a self-lubricating material is added to the titanium-aluminum compound, and the heat of cutting causes a very thin layer on the surface of the coating film to effectively suppress the acidification of the cutting edge. In addition, the material selected for the high-hardness film is equivalent to the TiSiN-based coating in the high-hardness film field, and has excellent wear resistance for high-speed and high-efficiency processing environments. After JX coating, the processing life is extended to use. 1.5 to 2 times that of the old coating.

High-efficiency forming broaching and squeezing processing technology for EST high-efficiency cutting tools

In the process of providing efficient cutting tools for the automotive industry for many years, Jiaxing Hengfeng/Yi Aisi Sidu Tools Co., Ltd. has realized the localization of precision broaching tools and boring tools manufacturing and grinding. By actively applying the high-efficiency technology of high-efficiency forming broaching and squeezing processing technology, the production efficiency and product quality of the car parts are optimized.

First of all, the broaching technology is no longer limited to simple inner hole splines and plane machining, and various special outer contour precision forming broaching tools (such as unequal precision external spline cylindrical broaching tools and precision spiral grooves) The opening broach) came into being. For example, with the complex surface combination broach and the car/pull combination forming broaching tool with special CNC machine tools, the batch production efficiency of some auto parts can be improved by several tens of times or even hundreds of times. Moreover, the product quality is more reliable, the accuracy is more stable, and the surface finish is better. The CNC precision grinding technology enables the rear corners to be slashed on very small and complex broaching teeth, and the complex arcs are smoothly connected, and the arc teeth can also have a relief angle. Not only that, the machining accuracy of up to μ level produces a sharp and precise cutting edge, which makes the broaching smoother and lighter. Combined with the widespread use of powder metallurgy high-speed steel and ultra-fine micro-hard alloy, the cutting speed and service life of the broach are greatly improved.

Secondly, the application of precision squeezing technology can make the processing of a large number of small modulus involute spline shafts in car parts easier. For example, a spline shaft with a modulus of 1.058, a number of teeth of 40, a pressure angle of 30° and a length of 40 mm can take up to 4 minutes to process each piece with conventional hobbing technology, while precision squeezing technology can reduce the processing time to only 10 seconds. The productivity increase is up to 24 times. In addition, due to the good distribution of tissue flow lines, not only the strength is higher, but also the surface finish and dimensional accuracy are more stable and improved. At the same time, the processing process without iron filings and oil mist has significantly improved the production environment.

Petri Dishes