Product category:
Tooling materials and inserts
News Release from: Walter GB | Subject: Indexable insert range
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 15 February 2006
Indexable inserts cover iron and steel
machining
Indexable insert range now has the addition of inserts for turning steel - to complement the existing range for machining cast iron - and are also available for milling in cast iron and steel.
Walter's world lead in the development and manufacture of tooling continues unabated with a host of developments in terms of inserts, solid tools and toolholders since MACH 2004, and at this year's show one highlight will be the recent announcement by Walter GB of Redditch of the expansion of the innovative Tiger.tec indexable insert range with the addition of inserts for turning steel - to complement the existing range dedicated to machining cast iron - and the fact that a new and complete Tiger.tec insert range is now also available for milling applications in both cast iron and steel The developments will allow a wider range of users to benefit from the high productivity gains achieved by users of Tiger.tec when turning cast iron
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 15 Mar 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Indexable inserts machine cast iron and steel
Indexable inserts for machining CI and steel have regularly achieved up to 75% more components per edge than competitor products, and offered improved process reliability.
Inserts provide 75% more components per edge
A successful insert tooling range for machining irons, which have regularly achieved up to 75% more components per edge than competitor products is now being expanded into cutting steels.
The inserts have regularly achieved up to 75% more components per edge than competitor products, and in some cases doubled output due to the inserts' improved process reliability courtesy of a high resistance to flank wear, cratering and thermal cracking.
In one case - taking 3mm deep cuts on a 153mm diameter grey cast iron face plate - when Tiger.tec was applied at similar cutting data to a competitor's carbide grade (cutting speeds of 200mm/min and feed rates of 83mm/min) but applied dry rather than with water/oil coolant, the Walter insert produced 83 cuts compared with 40 before visible flank wear.
The new Tiger.tec Steel inserts cleverly combine a mixture of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), titanium carbon nitride (TiCN) and titanium nitride (TiN) coatings on a tungsten carbide substrate, featuring a grey (TiCN) rake face and a golden, TiN finish (flank face) that aids wear identification.
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Side and face cutter is a flexible slot miller
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The inserts' aluminium oxide coating is particularly effective against tribochemical wear and permits higher cutting speeds and feeds to be employed while also providing longer service life.
The golden TiN coating applied to the inserts' clearance surfaces simplifies wear detection and thus avoids the unnecessary waste of unused cutting edges.
The grey TiCN rake face minimises negative tensile stress and improves coating adhesion and operational toughness.
The inserts feature the WKP25 and WKP35 cutting material grades (as with Tiger.tec for machining cast iron) that are characterised by the reduced formation of comb cracks, and are therefore ideally suited to wet machining.
However, in terms of developing the inserts for machining steel, Walter has applied new structures of TiCN and Al2O3, with the formation being TiCN + AL2O3 + TiCN, since wear resistance has been markedly improved by 'sandwiching' the Al2O3 layer between TiCN.
Tiger.tec Steel inserts are available in three grades; WPP10, WPP20 and WPP30, and with seven application geometries available in the mainstream negative ISO insert shapes, covering the complete range of workpiece materials from unalloyed structural steels to low-alloyed and case hardened steels, as well as high-alloyed quenched and tempered, high-strength steels within the range 1,300N/mm2.
Martensitic/Ferritic stainless also falls under the application range covered by the new WPP grades.
WPP10 is designed for high cutting speeds and favourable machining conditions; WPP20 is the universal grade covering 80% of all applications; and WPP30 is designed for difficult machining conditions and interrupted cuts.
With a 50% performance improvement target for WPP, Walter has once again shown that it is moving the tooling bar to heights that others find difficult to reach.
* Walter at MACH 2006, NEC, Birmingham, UK, May 15-19, Hall 5, Stand 5581.
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