How to Make a Turning Insert?

Turning inserts are practical cutting tools used for manufacturing steel, stainless steel, and other materials. Turning inserts have good heat resistance and wear resistance, so they are widely seen in many cutting tools and machines. Almost turning inserts are made of the hardest materials in the world, tungsten carbide. In this article, the manufacturing process of turning inserts will be introduced.

Mix tungsten carbide powder with binder powder. To make a turning insert, our factory will purchase 100% raw material tungsten carbide powder and add some cobalt powder to it. The binders will bind the tungsten carbide particles together. All the raw materials, including tungsten carbide powder, binder powder, and other ingredients, are purchased from suppliers. And the raw material will be strictly tested in the lab.

Milling always happens in a ball milling machine with liquid like water and ethanol. The process will take a long time to achieve a certain grain size.

The milled slurry will be poured into a spray dryer. Inert gases like nitrogen and high temperature will be added to evaporate the liquid. Powders, after spraying, will be dry, which will benefit from pressing and sintering.

During the pressing, tungsten carbide turning inserts will be compacted automatically. The pressed turning inserts are fragile and easy to break. So, they have to be put into a sintering furnace. The sintering temperature will be about 1,500°C. 

After sintering, the inserts should be ground to achieve their size, geometry, and tolerances. Most inserts will be coated by chemical vapor deposition, CVD, or physical vapor deposition, PVD. The CVD method is to have a chemical reaction on the surface of turning inserts to make the inserts stronger and harder. In the PVD process, the tungsten carbide turning inserts will be placed in fixtures, and the coating materials will evaporate on the surface of the insert.

Now, the tungsten carbide inserts will be checked again and then packed to send to customers. 

If you are interested in tungsten carbide turning inserts and want more information and details, you can CONTACT US by phone or mail at the left, or SEND US MAIL at the bottom of the page.