First, the application range of cemented carbide tools continues to expand, titanium carbonitride-based hard alloys (cermets), ultrafine-grained hard alloys, graded-structured hard alloys, and composite materials of cemented carbide and high-speed steel. It will replace a considerable number of high-speed steel tools, including simple general-purpose tools such as drills, end mills and taps, and sophisticated tools such as gear hobs and broaches. The proportion of high-speed steel tools is further reduced. In this way, cemented carbide will dominate the tool material, covering most of the conventional processing areas.
Second, the use of super-hard tool materials will increase significantly. Due to its high hardness, good chemical stability, small thermal expansion coefficient and high thermal conductivity, CBN will become the main processing tool for high-speed processing of ferrous metals, difficult-to-machine materials and dry cutting and hard cutting. Tool material. As its toughness is further improved, its proportion in cutting tools will be greatly improved. In addition, CBN is still the ultra-high-speed cutting of ferrous metals, breaking through the critical speed proposed by C. Salomon, which essentially improves the most promising tool materials in the cutting process. PCD and single crystal diamond are the best tools for the efficient and precise processing of non-metallic materials such as non-ferrous metals, ceramics, glass and graphite. With the increasing demand for these materials in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, military and other sectors, the application of PCD will be more extensive. Accelerate the development of coating technology Since the advent of the tool coating technology, it has played an important role in the improvement of tool performance and the advancement of machining technology. The coated tool has become the symbol of modern tools, and the proportion in the tool has exceeded 50%. . At the beginning of the 21st century, the proportion of coated tools will be further increased. It is expected to break through the CBN coating technology in technology and be practical, so that the excellent performance of CBN can be applied in more tools and cutting, even sophisticated tools and Forming tools, which will improve the overall level of machining of ferrous metals. In addition, the development and application of nano-scale ultra-thin ultra-multilayer coatings and new coating materials will accelerate, and coating will become the main way to improve tool performance. Accelerate the development of multi-function and special-purpose tools In order to take advantage of the CNC machining technology represented by turning machining centers and boring and milling machining centers, and improve machining efficiency, the processing of complex parts requires centralized processing of multiple processes in one setup. And to dilute the boundaries of traditional cutting, milling, boring, thread processing and other different cutting processes, is an effective way to improve the efficiency of CNC machine tools and accelerate product development. To this end, it also puts forward a new multi-functional requirement for the tool, which requires a tool to complete the processing of different parts of the part, reduce the number of tool changes, save the time of tool change, reduce the number of tools and inventory, and facilitate management and Reduce manufacturing costs. More common types of turning tools, milling cutters, as well as boring and milling cutters, drilling and milling cutters, drilling-milling threads - chamfering and other multi-purpose tools.
At the same time, in the mass production line, special tools or intelligent tools developed for the process can improve processing efficiency and precision, and reduce investment. Some special tools can reduce the processing time of parts to less than one tenth of the original, and the effect is very remarkable. The application of special tools with complex structure, multi-tool combination and automatic feed or adjustment accuracy has become an important factor in measuring the technical level of the production line. In the new car gearbox synchronizer gear processing line in the 1990s, the barrel broach was used to replace the original gear. A double-station broaching machine can replace several gear shaping machines to process one gear. 13 seconds, several times higher than the original process, the product quality is stable, and the plant area is saved. The development of versatile multi-tools and specialized tools for the needs of users should be an important part of future tooling products. To provide users with a complete set of cutting technology tools, the manufacturing industry should speed up the concept update, and provide users with complete sets of cutting processing technology and innovative processing methods as the development direction and service content.
Development trend of tool materials
There will be two important trends in the development of tool materials in the early 21st century.