Material properties of metal workpieces

In metal cutting, there will be different materials, which have unique properties, and are affected by the alloy element content, hardness or heat treatment. Different element combinations will also have different effects during cutting. Therefore, the workpiece material has great reference value for the selection of machines, cutting tools and cutting conditions.

According to the ISO standard metal materials are divided into six kinds of materials, let’s read it together with TMT!

P #Steel is the most widely used material in the field of metal cutting, including cast steel, ferrite and martensitic stainless steel, etc. Although steel has good cutting properties, the difference in material hardness and carbon content is likely to cause problems in metal cutting performance, which brings great challenges to the operators.

M #StainlessSteel is an alloy material with 11-12% chromium, most of which are used in oil, gas and pharmaceutical industries, the blade will generate a lot of heat when cutting, and become harder with deformation, so it’s prone to groove wear and built-up edge under pressure or heat.

K #CastIron unlike steel, cast iron is a short-chip workpiece material, mainly used in automobiles, machine manufacturing and iron-making industries. The characteristic is abrasiveness, which is easy to accelerate the wear of the tool.

N #Non-ferrousMetals such as aluminum, copper or brass are mainly used in aircraft manufacturing and aluminum alloy wheel manufacturing, etc. When cutting, sharp tools are mostly used, which can promote chip flow and greatly reduce the occurrence of adhesion to extend tool life?

S #Heat-resistantAlloys such as nickel, cobalt and titanium-based materials are viscous and prone to build-up edge, hardening and heat, similar to M (stainless steel), but due to poor thermal conductivity, it is easy to concentrate heat in the cutting area. It is therefore more difficult to cut and can even deform the tool.

H #HardenedSteel is the smallest category, including quenched and tempered steel with a hardness > 45-65HRC and chilled cast iron with a hardness of HB400-600. Its hardness has great abrasive wear on the tools. Used in automobile, machine manufacturing and mold industries, etc.

By understanding the ingredients and properties of different categories, selecting the right machine and adjusting the cutting tools and processing conditions can effectively improve the processing quality and the yield rate of the finished product, allowing you to get twice the result with half the effort!