Development and application of ceramic end mills

The cutting materials used in CFRP processing must meet the high wear resistance requirements, because the two phase composite structure composed of fiber and CFRP with different properties is mainly accompanied by this wear mechanism. Therefore, PCD and diamond coated carbide tools are widely used, because they show proper performance in CFRP milling and drilling operations, [4]. Although the cost of the PCD cutting tool is very high and is limited in the geometry of the cutting tool, the diamond coated cutting tools have the disadvantage of being unable to be regraged, which may lead to low economic efficiency. Because the innovative ceramic cutting materials can have high hardness and enough fracture toughness at the same time, they may be used as cutting materials for CFRP processing. In order to improve the productivity and quality of CFRP milling process, the potential of silicon carburized silicon carbide, a new ceramic material developed for this purpose, was analyzed in a research project of IWF. From the analysis and development of the cutting materials to the development of the cutting geometry, the analysis of the manufacturing process and the cutting performance during the milling process, the overall method of the project is realized. Because ceramics usually have brittle hard material properties, they also show a chip forming mechanism similar to hard alloys, so many of the findings about the impact of grinding parameters on hard alloys, such as cemented alloys, are all the same. In the process of grinding ceramic end mills, the blade formation of carbide tools is transferred and applied.

As part of the technology research described, the influence of different tool geometry characteristics on milling force is analyzed, and it is introduced below. Based on these investigations, the processing behavior of ceramic and carbide end mills is compared.