Now many foreign customers will choose tungsten carbide as the processing material of cutting tools. So what are the main advantages of tungsten carbide cutting tools, and what materials are suitable for cutting? Now I will answer the above questions for it.
Hartmetall
Carbide is an alloy made by sintering hard metal carbide powder. It is mainly composed of powders of tungsten carbide (WC, Tungsten Carbide), titanium carbide (TiC), etc., which are mixed with binders (Binder) such as cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni) and then sintered.
Commonly used carbide materials are divided into three categories according to their composition and performance characteristics: tungsten-cobalt, tungsten-titanium-cobalt, and tungsten-titanium-tantalum (niobium) types.
- Tungsten-cobalt carbide (WC-Co), codenamed YG. Suitable for short-chip processing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and processing of non-metallic materials such as cast iron, cast brass, bakelite, etc.
- Tungsten-titanium-cobalt carbide (WC-TiC-Co), codenamed YT. Suitable for long-chip machining of ferrous metals such as steel.
(3) Tungsten-titanium-tantalum (niobium)-cobalt carbide [WC-TiC-TaC(Nbc)-Co], also called general carbide, codenamed YW. The processing life of general-purpose carbide for difficult-to-process materials such as stainless steel is much longer than that of other carbides.
Characteristics of tungsten carbide
Although tungsten carbide is relatively expensive, it is still the best material for cutting tools and has many excellent properties. The most important feature is its high hardness (69-81hrc) and wear resistance, as well as better impact toughness, fracture toughness, fatigue strength, bending strength, and good corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance.
Application of tungsten carbide
Tungsten carbide is mainly used in the field of cutting processing, and can be used to make turning tools, milling cutters, planers, drill bits, etc. In the same alloy, the more cobalt it contains, the better the toughness, which is suitable for rough processing; the more carbide it contains, the higher the hot hardness, the worse the toughness, which is suitable for fine processing.