Extending Cutting Tool Life
Advanced multilayer breakthroughs allow machinists to push boundaries, resulting in superior products across a range of demanding applications.
Multilayer Coating Detects Wear and Boosts Tool Life
Kennametal Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) offers the new KCU10B and KCU25B grades for Top Notch™ grooving and threading with KENGold™ PVD. This advanced multilayer coating not only detects wear easily but also boosts tool life performance. The KCU10B grade offers superior hardness, making it perfect for continuous cuts, while the KCU25B grade provides enhanced toughness, ideal for medium applications in roughing or small interrupted cuts.
“These shallow grooving inserts now feature the gold multilayer wear detection and stability that customers request for safer and more efficient operations,” said Scott Etling, vice president global product management, Kennametal. “The KCU10B and KCU25B graded inserts offer stronger, tougher and more accurate indexing across multiple materials, resulting in increased reliability and repeatability.”
Enhanced Insert Geometries
Sandvik Coromant (Mebane, N.C.), a global leader in metal-cutting tools and solutions, has released four enhanced insert geometries within its high-performance CoroCut® 2 parting and grooving platform. The launch includes the ground profiling geometry -RO for nickel-based HRSA materials, alongside three upgraded parting-off geometries -CF, -CS and -CR, offering benefits such as reduced pip and burr and improved edge-line quality.
CoroCut 2 is renowned for delivering quality, efficiency and process security across a wide range of applications, helping workshops increase output while reducing energy consumption and material waste. The latest developments feature geometries tailored for profiling in demanding materials and for parting-off operations that require greater process reliability and productivity.
The ground profiling geometry -RO, ideal for finishing operations in nickel-based HRSA materials, has been upgraded to the CoroCut 2 range. New insert grades and a stabilizing rail interface improve wear resistance and dimensional accuracy, enabling tight tolerances and consistent surface quality.
In addition, three parting-off geometries have been enhanced or newly added to the range:
- Geometry -CF: A positive, light-cutting geometry updated with the CoroCut 2 grades and patented FlashLight technology, delivering low cutting forces and superior edge-line quality.
- Geometry -CS: A ground geometry with a front angle and sharp edge that minimizes pip and burr, now supported by a rail interface for added stability.
- Geometry -CR: A versatile geometry with a new front angle that reduces pip and burr across a wide range of materials — ideal when a strong edge is needed.
The CoroCut 2 range includes tools and inserts for parting-off, external and internal grooving, face grooving and profiling — from roughing to finishing. Designed for use with two-edged inserts across all ISO materials and applications, it’s a versatile, sustainable and cost-efficient tooling concept for today’s high-demand production environments.
Unique PVD Aluminum Oxide Coating Withstands Elevated Temps
Walter (Greer, S.C.) has expanded its product range with the addition of the new thread milling grade, Tiger∙tec® Gold WSM37G. The grade features the only PVD aluminum oxide coating technology of its kind in the world, which provides an elevated level of temperature resistance and long tool life.
A titanium aluminum nitride base coating on the carbide substrate offers a high level of wear resistance and the multilayer coating is topped with a polished gold-colored zirconium nitride layer with the best friction resistance and wear detection. In addition, an extremely smooth rake face minimizes friction.
These new benchmark indexable inserts for thread milling have a positive basic shape geometry that has three cutting edges. They are available in either the D67 universal geometry for maximum tool life or the D61 geometry with anti-vibration land for a high level of operational smoothness when using large projection lengths or under difficult conditions.
WSM37G-grade inserts are for milling threads with a nominal diameter from 16 mm or UNC ¾. Thread milling inserts in grade WSM37G feature chip breakers specifically developed for thread milling and a defined corner radii for producing threads in accordance with various standards.
