Latest machining tool shows its metal

16th November 2016
Posted By : Anna Flockett
Latest machining tool shows its metal

Helping to tackle the toughest cast iron applications, the Kennametal’s Mill 16 comes with a wedge-style lamping system, numbered pockets and inserts and an open pocket design to increase chip flow in heavy roughing. Iron is the most abundant element on earth by mass. For over 25 centuries it´s been used to plough fields, build bridges, cook food, and wage war.

Without iron, the Industrial Revolution would have gone nowhere, we would have no trains, automobiles, or machine tools today, and mankind would still be an agrarian society. It is quite simply the most important metal in history.

There´s a newcomer to this metal family, though, one that´s making manufacturers take notice. Automakers that strive for increasingly fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles are turning away from traditional iron favourites such as gray and ductile iron (GCI and DCI) to compacted graphite iron, or CGI. Also known as vermiculate graphite iron, CGI´s mechanical attributes meet or exceed its counterparts, sometimes drastically so.

Unfortunately, CGI is also more difficult to machine, requiring cutting tools both tough and wear-resistant. And because of the continuing call for cost-effective machining solutions across all manufacturing industries, these tools must also offer a low cost per part and predictable tool life. For face milling applications, that tool is Mill 16.

Senior Global Product Manager for Indexable Milling, Marcelo Campos commented: “Compared to cast iron, CGI has lower weight and greater strength, and is ideal for components that are exposed to both thermal and mechanical stresses like engine blocks and heads for cars and trucks, exhaust manifolds, and brake parts.”

Campos added: “As with other cast irons, however, it is quite abrasive and somewhat gummy to machine. We developed Mill 16 as a best in class face mill not only for CGI, but for all types of cast iron, which remains a popular choice for gear boxes, housings, pump bodies, and other components used in the automotive, agricultural, and heavy equipment sectors.”

The Mill 16´s strengths:

  • The Mill 16 has a fine-pitch and medium pitch cutter body equipped with an innovative single-screw, wedge-style clamping system. This reduces time spent in the tool crib setting the tool and assures rigid, no-fail tool placement. Each pocket on the cutter body is numbered, as are each of the insert´s cutting edges, assuring maximum accuracy and ease of use when indexing to a new cutting edge.
  • The heart of the Mill 16 is an octagonal, double-sided insert with 16 effective cutting edges, providing the lowest tooling cost per part possible. The face of each cutting edge contains an aggressive chip-breaker for positive cutting action and increased chip flow. The wedge clamp on either side of the insert´s top face is likewise chamfered to improve chip evacuation.
  • Mill 16 is available in cutter diameters ranging from 2-10” (50-250mm). Kennametal has rated the maximum axial depth of cut (Ap1) at 5.5mm (0.216”), although depths to 9mm (0.35”) or greater are achievable, an important consideration where casting variation is a concern. Due to the cutter´s low cutting forces, up to 100% radial cutter engagement is possible. All cutters have internal coolant supply capability.
  • The carbide is new as well. Kennametal´s grade KCK20 is a PVD AlTiN/AlTiCrN multilayer coating bonded to a wear resistant substrate which provides an average tool life of 30% greater than comparable TiAlN-coated grades.
  • A wide assortment of insert edge preps, geometries, corner radii, as well as a number of complementary grades assure the Mill 16 is a top performer in a variety of machining conditions, from heavy roughing to semi-finishing and, because of the insert´s integrated wiper facet, fine finishing to Ra 3.2μm or better.

During a dry machining operation on a ductile cast iron plate using Mill 16, feed rates were increased by 41% and tool life doubled tool. A gray iron transmission case was machined at a feed rate of 0.39mm per tooth (0.015”) and cutting speed of 208m/min (682ft/min), leading to reduced spindle loads compared to the legacy tool and slightly improved tool life. Metal removal rate and tool life on water pump housing was more than doubled by switching to Mill 16.


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