Special Tools Machining of Abrasive Metals

Source: Press release | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

Related Vendors

The machining of lead-free brass is demanding. It is abrasive and causes the cutting edge to wear quickly. Iscar offers special tools as solutions that extend tool life, improve surface quality, and increase process reliability.

The CCGT 09T304 turning insert is well-suited for roughing Ecobrass.(Image: Iscar)
The CCGT 09T304 turning insert is well-suited for roughing Ecobrass.
(Image: Iscar)

Lead (Pb) imparts specific properties to other metals in alloys, for example, improving their machinability and increasing their corrosion resistance. However, lead is toxic. The body absorbs elemental lead primarily in the form of dust through the lungs. The MAK Commission of the German Research Foundation has classified these fractions of lead as carcinogenic. The insidious aspect is that lead accumulates in the body even with the intake of small amounts over an extended period, for example, in the bones, and is only very slowly excreted. It adversely affects blood formation, the nervous system, and muscle function. In extreme cases, lead poisoning can lead to death.

Due to increasingly strict consumer protection regulations, manufacturers must reduce the lead content in many components to a minimum, ideally to zero. The challenge is to ensure the desired properties of the material even without lead. Industrially significant free-cutting brass, for example, contains between 0.5 and 3.5 percent lead in small droplets as chip breakers. The lead exists in the crystal lattice as a finely dispersed phase. The more lead it contains, the easier the material is to machine, producing short chips.

Gallery
Gallery with 13 images

Environmentally Friendly Alternative

Classic brass with a high lead content can often be replaced by the material CuZn21Si3P, also known as EcoBrass. This silicon-containing special brass is highly corrosion-resistant and is suitable for applications such as sanitary installations. Silicon ensures dezincification and stress corrosion resistance. EcoBrass contains less than 0.1 percent lead—good for health, good for the environment, but difficult to process. Lead-reduced or lead-free materials cause problems during machining: in addition to high abrasiveness and high wear on the cutting edge, burr formation increases and the chips become much longer.

This is where Iscar comes in with effective solutions for successful machining. With cutting materials and chip geometries optimally adapted to the task, users extend tool life, improve surface quality, increase material removal rates and productivity, and benefit from greater process reliability.

For example, the rhombic insert CCGT 09T304 from the IscoTurn series excels in roughing during turning. Thanks to the sharp-edged design and positive rake angle, users need only apply low cutting forces and can remove a lot of material in a short time—even from difficult-to-machine Ecobrass. The positive 35-degree indexable insert VCGT 110302 with a 7-degree clearance angle is suitable for finishing. For parting off Ecobrass, Iscar offers a suitable tool with the SlimGrip insert GFT 1.0J-0.1. For larger diameters, diamond-coated edges and cutting materials such as PCD, CVD diamonds, and MCD with higher performance profiles have proven effective.

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Unfold for details of your consent