The characteristics of PCD tool and its use

PCD tool characteristics

PCD tool machining aluminum workpiece has the advantages of extended tool life and high metal cutting rate. Still, its disadvantage is that the tool price is high, and the processing cost is high. This point in the machinery industry has formed a consensus. But in recent years, many changes have occurred in developing and applying PCD cutting tools. Currently developed aluminum alloy materials (exceptionally high silicon content composite materials)

appear increasingly. We must carefully choose PCD tool and geometric parameters to optimize productivity and processing quality to adapt to different processing requirements. Another change in PCD cutting tools is the continuous reduction of processing costs. The price of PCD cutting tools has significantly reduced by more than 50% in the market competition pressure and device manufacturing process improvements. The above trends lead to the increasing application of PCD tools in processing aluminum materials, while  Different materials processed restrict the tools' applicability.

PCD tool correct use

When machining aluminum alloy materials, the cutting speed of cemented carbide tool is about 120m/min. In contrast, the cutting speed of the PCD tool can reach about 360m/min even when machining high-silicon aluminum alloy. Tool manufacturers recommend using fine particle (or medium particle) PCD for processing non-silicon and low-silicon aluminum alloys. The coarse particle PCD processes high silicon aluminum material. If the surface finish of the milling workpiece does not meet the requirements, we can use the polishing blade with a smaller grain size to finish the workpiece surface to obtain a good surface finish.

The correct application of the PCD cutting tool is the premise of obtaining satisfactory machining results. Although the exact cause of tool failure varies, it is usually due to an incorrect object or method of use. When ordering PCD cutting tools, users should grasp the appropriate range of cutting tools. For example, when working with ferrous metal (such as stainless steel) with a PCD tool, the PCBN tool is the correct choice for working with hardened steel because the diamond quickly reacts with the carbon in the steel in rapid wear of the PCD tool.

Generally speaking, to reduce cutting force and prevent the formation of chip nodules, we can use the positive cutting angle of the pcd tool when processing high silicon aluminum alloy. Especially when the pcd tools are instead of the complex alloy tool for processing, the back tip of the pcd tool will improve the cutting performance of the cutting edge of the pcd tool on the high silicon aluminum alloy. The positive front angle of the PCD tool should not be too large because the more significant the front angle of the tool, the lower the strength of the cutting edge. In other words, the smaller the back angle of the PCD tool, the higher the power of the cutting edge. To maximize cutting edge strength while maintaining a positive cutting Angle, one company welded a negative front Angle CNMX blade to the tip of a PCD tool to create a positive cutting Angle. The opposite front angle of the blade provides a higher cutting edge strength without affecting the regular cutting of the tool. When preparing the cutting-edge PCD tool, there is no need to do too much processing on the diamond tip. For the PCD milling cutter, we can slightly sharpen the cutting edge. In addition, making the cutting edge produce a certain axial Angle is also helpful in improving the cutting performance of the PCD tool.

The successful application of PCD blades depends not only on the proper selection of tool geometry and cutting parameters but also on the tool supplier providing solutions to the problems encountered in tool use. For example, a large auto parts processing workshop uses a PCD blade supplied by a diamond tool company for groove milling. Initially, each PCD diamond blade can process 1500 parts, but the chips generated by processing will damage the surface of the parts. Therefore, The company devised a solution to fabricate a radial chip cutting groove on top of the diamond blade using an EDM (discharge machining) process and customized 50 blades to solve this problem. The number of parts processed per PCD blade has increased from 1,500 to 4,300.