Application of PCD standard tool in aluminum alloy machining

Characteristics of aluminum alloy processing :

1. Compared with titanium alloy and other hardened steel, the hardness of aluminum alloy is lower, of course, the hardness of heat treatment, or die cast aluminum alloy is also very high. The HRC hardness of ordinary aluminum plate is generally below HRC40 degrees. Therefore, when processing aluminum alloy, the tool load is small. And because the thermal conductivity of aluminum alloy is better, the cutting temperature of milling aluminum alloy is relatively low, which can improve the milling speed.

2. Aluminum alloy plastic low, melting point is also low. When processing aluminum alloy, the problem of sticking knife is serious, the chip removal performance is poor, and the surface roughness is relatively high. When using unsuitable tool materials and processing aluminum alloy, the tool wear is often accelerated due to problems such as sticking knife and chip removal.

PCD material characteristics:

1. The hardness of PCD can reach 8000HV, 8 ~ 12 times that of cemented carbide.

2. The thermal conductivity of PCD is 700W/mK, 1.5 ~ 9 times of cemented carbide, even higher than PCBN and copper, so the PCD tool heat transfer quickly.

3. The friction coefficient of PCD is generally only 0.1 ~ 0.3 (the friction coefficient of cemented carbide is 0.4 ~ 1), so the PCD tool can significantly reduce the cutting force.

4. The thermal expansion coefficient of PCD is only 0.9×10^-6 ~ 1.18×10^-6, only equivalent to 1/5 of cemented carbide, so the PCD tool thermal deformation is small, high processing accuracy.

5. PCD tool and non-ferrous metal and non-metallic materials between the affinity is very small, in the process of processing chip is not easy to bond on the tip of the chip formation.

Aluminum alloy is the most widely used in industry of non-ferrous metal structural materials, in aviation, aerospace, automotive, machinery manufacturing, shipping and have been extensively applied in chemical industry, the aircraft fuselage, envelope, such as compressor often with aluminum alloy manufacture, to lighten the weight, the welding of aluminum alloy instead of steel material and structure weight can reduce more than 50%.

In order to improve the performance of the aluminum alloy processing elements of silicon (Si), and the increasing of the silicon content in the materials processing performance, especially the high silicon aluminium alloy, ever used cemented carbide cutting tools is difficult to carry on the processing, when cutting tool alternately cutting soft and hard aluminum silicon particles, using common cemented carbide cutting tool is easy to wear and tear, At the same time, the tool is also easy to produce chip nodules, which will worsen the machining accuracy and surface roughness. To avoid nodules and work hardening, the blade must be sharp and smooth, and the PCD blade meets these requirements. PCD blade is the most effective tool material for processing aluminum alloy, especially high-silicon aluminum alloy. It is also the most widely used tool material in the processing field.

---EDITOR: Doris Hu

---POST: Doris Hu