Performance Comparison Analysis of Industrial Blades in Different Material Processing

1 Overview and Performance Evaluation Indicators of Industrial Blades

Industrial blades, as the core tools in the field of mechanical processing, their performance directly determines the processing efficiency, product quality, and production cost. With the rapid development of materials science, modern industrial blades have formed various material systems including high-speed steel, hard alloy, ceramics, cubic boron nitride (CBN), and diamond. Each material has its unique performance characteristics and application scope. Reasonable selection of blade materials is crucial for optimizing the processing process.

The key indicators for evaluating the performance of industrial blades mainly include the following aspects:

 Hardness: This refers to the ability of the blade material to resist plastic deformation and indentation. It is usually expressed in terms of Rockwell hardness (HRC) or Vickers hardness (HV). The higher the hardness, the better the wear resistance of the blade, which is one of the most fundamental performance indicators of the cutting material. The hardness of the cutting material must be higher than that of the workpiece material, generally requiring above 60HRC.

• Wear resistance: This reflects the ability of the blade to resist wear and is closely related to factors such as material hardness, chemical composition, and microstructure. Wear resistance determines the service life of the cutting tool and is an important indicator for evaluating the economic performance of the blade.

• Strength and toughness: Strength refers to the ability of the blade to resist fracture, while toughness indicates the ability of the blade to absorb energy and resist impact. These two indicators determine whether the blade can withstand cutting force, impact, and vibration during the processing, preventing brittle fracture and chipping.

• Heat resistance: This refers to the ability of the blade to maintain hardness, wear resistance, strength, and toughness at high temperatures, usually expressed as red hardness. Heat resistance determines the performance of the blade under high-temperature cutting conditions and is one of the key factors limiting the increase in cutting speed.

• Chemical stability: This reflects the ability of the blade to resist oxidation and undergo chemical reactions with the workpiece material during the processing. Blades with poor chemical stability are prone to diffusion wear or adhesion with the workpiece material, affecting the processing quality.

• Friction coefficient: A low friction coefficient can reduce cutting force and lower cutting temperature, thereby improving the surface quality of the processed workpiece. Diamond cutting tools stand out in this aspect, with an extremely low friction coefficient with nonferrous metals.

2 Common Industrial Blade Materials and Their Characteristics

2.1 High-Speed Steel Blades

High-Speed Steel (HSS) is a high-alloy tool steel containing alloy elements such as tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, and vanadium. Since its invention in 1900, HSS has been one of the important tool materials in the field of mechanical processing. The typical composition of HSS includes: tungsten (W) 12-18%, molybdenum (Mo) 3-5%, chromium (Cr) 3-5%, vanadium (V) 1-3%, and appropriate amounts of cobalt (Co), etc.

The main advantages of HSS lie in its excellent comprehensive performance: high hardness (up to 63-67 HRC), high bending strength (generally 2.5-4.5 GPa), good toughness, and the ability to withstand large impact loads. This material has a mature manufacturing process and relatively low cost, making it suitable for various processing conditions. In addition, HSS tools can process various materials from non-ferrous metals to high-temperature alloys, especially suitable for manufacturing complex-shaped tools such as drills, taps, reamers, forming tools, gear tools, etc.

However, the heat resistance of HSS is poor. When the cutting temperature exceeds 500-650℃, its hardness will significantly decrease, which limits its application in high-speed processing. In actual production, HSS blades are more suitable for cutting materials with lower hardness such as aluminum, brass, and plastics, as well as processing tasks at low or medium cutting speeds.

2.2 Hard Alloy Blades

Hard alloy (Carbide) is a powder metallurgy product formed by compressing powder of refractory metal carbides (such as WC, TiC, TaC, NbC, etc.) and metal binders (such as Co, Ni, Mo, etc.) under high pressure, and then sintering at high temperature. Based on the chemical composition and structural characteristics, hard alloys can be classified into three major categories: tungsten-cobalt type (YG type), tungsten-cobalt-titanium type (YT type), and rare carbide-added type (YW type).

Hard alloys have high hardness (89-93 HRA), high wear resistance and good heat resistance (800-1000℃). The allowable cutting speed is much higher than that of high-speed steel, and the processing efficiency is high, capable of cutting hard materials such as quenched steel. The metal carbides in hard alloys have high melting points, high hardness, good chemical stability and thermal stability, which makes them stable in high-load and high-speed cutting, and have a longer service life than high-speed steel.

The disadvantages of hard alloys compared to high-speed steel are that their bending strength is lower, they are more brittle, and their vibration and impact resistance are also poorer. Therefore, hard alloy blades are suitable for cutting materials with high hardness, such as steel, iron, stainless steel, etc.; they are also suitable for cutting materials that are more brittle, such as cast iron. In China, most turning tools, end milling tools and deep hole drills are made of hard alloy. In recent years, hard alloy has also been used to manufacture some more complex cutting tools, such as end milling tools and hole processing tools.