Carbide
Manufacturing
From
the Raw Material Through to the Finished Product
The
raw materials to manufacture carbide are the
hard material, tungsten carbide (WC), and
the binding agent, cobalt (Co). The carbide
owes its extremely high hardness to the hard
material and its high toughness to the binding
agent. A decisive advantage in comparison
with steel - especially high speed steel (HSS)
- is that carbide resists high temperatures
significantly better and also has a significantly
higher bending strength.
Basic Principles
The starting powders are mixed together with
further additives and then plastified. Round
rods and strips are manufactured through extrusion
pressing or cold isostatic pressing. Before
the sintering and the final heat treatment,
the rods can still be shaped in a variety
of different ways. This can save the customer
a lot of time when grinding and we can also
return a part of the valuable raw material
to the production process again.
Mixture
Preparation
The quality
of the carbide is determined substantially by
the quality of the powder. For this reason,
we place the highest value on outstanding quality
when purchasing our raw materials.
To manufacture products which satisfy the highest
quality requirements, we recently decided to
invest in a laboratory for carbide mixtures.
New types and procedures for future cutting
concepts are created in our development room.
On the one hand, we continue to optimise types
of carbide which are connected with such cutting
terms as HSC (high speed cutting), HPC (high
performance cutting) and HFC (high feed cutting)
or are recommended because of their exceptional
suitability for modern coatings. In addition,
we want to develop types which are suitable
for applications in the printed circuit board
sector as well, especially for drilling (with
D < 0.1 mm).
We also pay special attention to the optimisation
of production processes. State-of-the-art system
and process engineering should contribute to
permanent improvements in handling and cleanliness,
helping to further reduce health burdens at
the workplace.
Pressing
Sintering
is the heat treatment of the green blanks:
The process takes place beneath the melting
point of tungsten. We work at temperatures
of up to 1400°C.
During this process, the plastifier is removed
from the green carbide blank under vacuum,
through which the volume of the rod is reduced
by a good 25%. Compression then takes place
under a protective gas atmosphere. The porosity
of the carbide is set to a minimum.
With our seven sinter-HIP furnaces, we have
a capacity of up to 90 tonnes per month available.
|
