Development Trends of Metal Processing Tools in Europe

The trends of new materials, miniaturization, digitization, and sustainable manufacturing are challenges that production enterprises must address. This also applies to metal processing at the beginning of the industrial chain. How to optimize complex and tricky metal cutting processes, tool experts are often the first to be consulted. The most common problems faced by metal cutting companies include tool wear, machining time, and cost.

Recently, the International Mold Association released an article introducing the latest development trends in processing tools and related technologies by observing several recent European metal sheet processing exhibitions.

01

Cutting materials and coatings

The development of new cutting materials and coatings is a key means of improving precision tools. Hard alloy, ceramic, and diamond coatings can reduce wear and extend service life. At the same time, the material can also ensure uninterrupted processing time.

Iscar cutting tools have improved their tool products through a series of technologies: internal cooling channels have been integrated into the three blade solid carbide flat head drill to enhance machining performance. Three coolant nozzles have extended the lifespan of the blade and improved the chip removal effect. According to the company, Iscar's flat head drill product line is the first product in the market that can process flat bottom holes. The three cutting edges of the drill bit improve the quality of the hole, especially in cases of cutting interruption. These conditions may include intersecting holes or inclined surfaces, etc.

The geometric shape of the drill bit ensures high machining efficiency, especially when processing steel and casting materials. The diameter range of this series of drill bits is 4-12mm, with a step pitch of 0.1mm and a length to diameter ratio of 3 × D and 5 × D. The small blade tip improves penetration and precision in machining holes, while the wavy cutting edge and specially shaped blade ensure good chip control for most materials. Narrow scraper can reduce friction and ensure perfect surface quality. The highly polished chip groove can also cleanly discharge chips, while the optimized core diameter increases the rigidity of the tool.

02

Composite materials and new materials

Composite materials such as carbon fiber or titanium alloy also require special tools that can withstand extreme loads. With the increasing demand for these lighter but stronger materials, the demand for cutting tools capable of processing these materials is also increasing. Therefore, many companies' research and development goals are focused on the production of these tools, with a particular emphasis on their coatings.

Mapal, a tool manufacturer located in the southern German state of Baden-W ü rttemberg, is also further developing its surface technology and researching diamond layers with extremely high hardness and wear resistance for cutting materials such as carbon fiber, ceramics, graphite, and aluminum compounds. Especially in the mold manufacturing industry and aerospace engineering industry, users have increasingly high requirements for service life and processing reliability.

At its coating technology capability center, both reversible inserts and solid carbide cutting tools are prepared through PVD or CVD processes. For dry cutting and high-speed cutting, experts usually recommend using CVD technology. In the process of chemical vapor deposition, the deposition temperature of compounds is slightly higher than 1000 ℃. If the expected processing conditions are quite unstable or cutting conditions are difficult, a harder PVD coating should be used. Physical vapor deposition combines metal hard materials (such as titanium nitrate or titanium aluminum nitride) with a hard alloy substrate. If the adhesive wear process is effective, diamond-like carbon coating (DCC) is usually chosen. They can also be separated through PVD or plasma based CVD processes. In order to coat the tool, Mapal currently limits the coating range to 3-15 µ m based on specific applications. The optimized HF-CVD process can produce coatings with almost uniform thickness. A constant goal is to be able to reliably use the total cutting length in specific cutting applications, regardless of the cutting depth. One example is OptiMill Composite Speed Plus, which is a solid carbide milling cutter used for carbon fiber reinforced (CFR) materials. In this case, a uniform CVD diamond coating can ensure a longer service life and higher machining reliability: "Over the past few years, we have been committed to improving the diamond coating process and opening up new opportunities for tool manufacturing," said Dr. Martin Kommer, Director of the Cutting Materials/Coatings R&D team at Mapal. Therefore, the entire tool design process from the correct geometric shape, selection of suitable hard alloy to coating is fully the responsibility of the tool manufacturer. Fiber tearing, protrusion, and burrs are also issues faced by many customers of Emuge Franken. Composite materials are applied in many different industries, such as aerospace engineering, automotive industry, energy storage and transportation, and healthcare. The company has developed fiber cutting milling cutters to address various processing issues.

03

Machinable fiber-reinforced plastic cutting tools

Such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP), and aramid fiber reinforced plastic (AFRP). ZR coated end mills with diameters ranging from 4.0 to 20mm can be used for rough machining of CFRP and GFRP. The end mill with diamond Zr coating will not cause any damage during rough and fine machining. The special tooth shape ensures clean and reliable cutting of fibers, with a large amount of chips and the best chip removal effect. Micro end mills with diameters ranging from 1.0 to 3.0mm and coated with diamond Zr are suitable for micro machining. Reverse shear end mills (5.0~12mm) can be used for drilling and edge milling of aramid fiber-reinforced plastics.

04

Nanotechnology and microstructure tools

Another trend is related to the size of the parts to be produced, which are becoming smaller and therefore, the required shape and geometric dimensions are also shrinking. The miniaturization of parts requires higher precision and smaller dimensions of molds. In the fields of micro and nanotechnology, the transition is very smooth. There is a high demand for molds with small structures in the fields of electronics and medical technology.

For example, at Paul Horn Company in Germany, mastering every process of micro cutting is crucial. When it comes to processing an outer diameter of 0.1mm, an insertion amount of 0.5mm, and a feed rate of 5mm, one can feel how precise the coordination of all processing elements is. Extremely small cutting depths require very sharp blades to minimize cutting pressure. However, abrasive cutting edges increase the risk of producing microcracks. Even small cracks within a few micrometers on the cutting edge can have a negative impact on the machining surface of the workpiece. The smoothness of the cutting surface also plays an important role. To prevent edge accumulation, Paul Horn's cutting surface needs to be finely polished or buffed before use.

In order to enable users to produce screws for hearing aids, balance weights for watch production, or machined micro parts for medical components, Horn Company has developed a µ - Finish system for micro cutting. Therefore, when rotating the rotatable blade, a variation accuracy of ± 0.0025mm can be achieved. For example, users can rotate the cutting plate without having to readjust the blade height.

German LMT Tools is another example of the trend towards smaller workpieces. In the process of developing micro milling cutters, in addition to requiring workpiece quality, productivity and machining reliability are also key factors. LMT provides various micro milling cutters with a tolerance range of 0.007mm for high-precision milling of small diameter tools. 3. The tolerance for precision shafts of 4 and 6mm is H5, with a diameter range of 0.3~3.0mm. There are two geometric shapes to choose from: one is a straight face design for precise contour machining, and the other is a spherical tool head design. The latter design ensures higher flexibility when processing complex three-dimensional shapes. Due to the spherical shape of the milling cutter, it can accurately machine curves and irregular surfaces.

One of the main application areas is hard processing in mold manufacturing, such as complex three-dimensional mold surfaces, deep cavities, drilling, grooves, or ribbed structures. LMT utilizes a wear-resistant substrate system that can withstand high temperatures to counteract the collection of high thermal mechanical loads. Therefore, the tool has oxidation resistance, diffusion resistance, and thermal hardness.

Through the micro program, we have added a variety of tool solutions related to mold manufacturing, especially injection mold manufacturing, to our product portfolio of shafts and rotatable inserts. "Dr. Sascha Beblein, head of rotary tool development at LMT Tools, emphasized," We are able to comprehensively cover all areas - from punches, presses, forging molds, plastic molds, and die-casting molds to freeform surfaces, electrode production, and mold manufacturing

05

Minimum diameter drill bit without guidance

Ceratizit from Luxembourg provides small diameter and ultra deep hole drill bits. The WTX drill bit can drill holes up to 30 × D while maintaining high positioning accuracy. The 5 × D version is designed as a guiding drill for micro deep hole drills, creating conditions for micro deep hole drilling. The self centering characteristic of micro drill bits means that there is no need for pilot drilling/centering in the range below 8 × D (including 8 × D).

According to the manufacturer, this drill bit can reliably process steel, castings, or high heat-resistant materials with high repeatability accuracy. This is attributed to the optimized geometric shape and the so-called dragon skin coating. The special geometric shape of the drill tip improves positioning accuracy, while the grinding surface and patented chip removal space ensure fast and reliable chip removal. The cutting tool is cooled by a spiral cooling channel and a cooling chamber in the shaft. Through these measures, Ceratizit is committed to ensuring the repeatability and uninterrupted performance of micro drilling. Felix Meggle, Product Manager of Ceratizit Solid Hard Alloy Drilling Tools, said, "The company can also work with customers to help optimize tools to adapt to new challenging applications

06

Fixture assisted precision machining

The closer the final tolerance of the processed workpiece is, the more dependent it is on the entire power transmission chain from the machine base to the chips. Now, Iscar has launched an innovation targeting one of the steps: the BHD MB boring head has been replaced by a new tool series called BSFD or Boring Super Fine Digital. This measuring instrument can display all fine boring head diameters. The diameter of the digital boring head ranges from 3mm to 203.1mm, with an accuracy of ± 0.001mm. The display unit is connected to the tool fixture through magnetic force, so that the diameter can be adjusted with the help of a digital screen.

According to supplier Iscar, this tool is most suitable for high-precision drilling operations. This tool is suitable for the automotive industry, aerospace engineering industry, and general mechanical engineering industry. Under intermittent cutting conditions, they can also serve as an alternative tool for high tolerance reaming operations.

The new standard fixture device can also ensure precise and uninterrupted cutting during five axis machining of the billet. One example is Emuge's EvoGrip centering pliers, which is a manually operated direct clamping device that can center and clamp workpieces. Its compact design enables five axis multi-faceted machining and makes such clamping devices universally applicable. EvoGrip adopts a modular and ultra-thin system design, with a maximum clamping force of 75kN.

The EvoPoint zero point clamping system is the perfect complement to EvoGrip. EvoPoint features high precision and, due to its modular design, can be used in conjunction with centering clamp systems. According to the manufacturer, combining with EvoPoint can shorten setup time by up to 80%. These grippers come in different versions, such as one-piece grippers with different contours, multi piece grippers consisting of basic and flip jaws, and flip jaws with different contours, top jaws, and center jaws.

07

measurement system 

When it comes to accuracy issues, corresponding control is also essential. Hahn+Kolb provided an example on how to find innovation here. This tool service provider offers Micro, DH-9, and Easyroughness roughness roughness measurement devices under the Diavite and Atorn brands as three solutions for measuring surfaces according to the ISO21920 standard. By the end of 2021, this new international standard will replace the revoked ISO4287, ISO4288, ISO13565-2, and ISO1302 standards, which no longer cover all possibilities of modern measuring equipment. The three parts of the new standard involve contour related measurement, characterization, and indication of part surface texture (roughness, waviness).

The equipment used for measuring roughness adopts an aluminum casing and a touch screen display. They have feed devices for pry probes and reference surface probes (free trackers), as well as special personalized solutions. Therefore, compared to pure pry picking systems, users can perform more measurement tasks. The corresponding spherical measuring head, depth measuring head, drilling measuring head, tooth surface measuring head, shaft measuring head, and free cutting measuring head can also record the values of deep surfaces, gears, grooves, and drilling or small grooves.

Atorn's Easyroughness can even record wire drill holes, shaft diameters, internal grooves, and tooth surface roughness. In addition to displaying surface roughness through a large 10.1-inch touchscreen, the measurement results are also stored through the integrated Windows IoT operating system and provide video/photo recording options. Therefore, users can determine that the target value also matches the current state and record it to provide to customers.