The quality of milled, formed and punched parts depends on the tool used in the manufacturing process. Drills, milling cutters or thread rods, stamping and forming tools, forming dies and tool holders require surface finishing processes to improve their performance and useful life.
Smoothing the surface, decoating, removing burrs, controlled rounding and radiusing and corrosion protection increase the life of the metalworking tools providing a reliable and repeatable quality of the final parts.
Between 12 to 15 % of the manufacturing costs and 30 to 50 % of the manufacturing time for the toolmaking industry are allocated to surface finishing.
Since current automated polishing techniques are almost not applicable on pieces with freeform surfaces and function relevant edges the smoothing, rounding, radiusing and deburring is predominantly done manually or with complex multi-step processes which are error prone and high resources demanding.
The dry electropolishing technology is a novel electrochemical process that improves the result of current finishing technologies. It overcomes the barriers of liquid electropolishing and abrasive polishing using solid particles to remove material by ion exchange.
- As it is a non-abrasive treatment it does round off the edges in a controlled way.
- Performs automated effective surface finishing of forming, punching and cutting tools.
- Improves dramatically the performance and lifespan of the tools.
- Is also able to improves the surfaces without changing the geometries.
- It reduces chipping on cutting tools, wear.
Some of the most important applications of our technology for the toolmaking industry are:
- Drill bits, saw blades and screwdriver bits
- Hand tools such as hammers, wrenches and pliers
- Lathe tools and milling cutters
- Thread rods
- Stamping tools such as punches
- Forming tools and dies
- Tool holders
Cemented carbides
DLyte technology offers a plethora of advantages when it comes to the surface treatment of cemented carbides. By maintaining the superficial chemistry unaltered, it ensures that the original properties of the material are preserved. Additionally, DryLyte technology prevents any leaching effects on the metallic binder, which contributes to the overall stability and durability of the treated surface. The process achieves an impressive roughness between constitutive phases of below 9 nm, resulting in a smooth and consistent surface finish.
The minimum and controlled rounding effects further enhance the final surface quality, ensuring uniformity and reduced wear. Moreover, the mechanical integrity of the treated material remains constant, demonstrating the non-invasive nature of the process. Finally, DryLyte technology boasts short polishing times, increasing productivity and efficiency in industrial applications.
Some applications
Carbide insert die polishing
Material: Tungsten carbide
Manufacturing: Sintering
Pre-processing: EDM
Application: Precision finish
Achieved Ra: 0.01 μm
Processing time: 94 minutes (1 part)
DLyte equipment: DLyte 100PRO Carbide
Common materials
Technical aspects
Economic and environmental aspects
