Carbide insert polishing

For toolmaking industry

THE COMPANY

GPAINNOVA’s client is a company specializing in designing and manufacturing high-quality carbide tools.

THE PROBLEM

Conventional mechanical surface finishing processes are ineffective in polishing tungsten carbide, as it is too hard to be eroded. Consequently, the improvement of surface quality results in uncontrolled rounding of the edges. Alternatively, chemical and electrochemical processes lead to corrosion and spontaneous cobalt release in a reaction known as leaching. Leaching causes the loss of the binder metal, leading to structural collapse.

Before adopting GPAINNOVA’s solution, the customer used a robotized arm for diamond brushing and final grinding with a diamond disc to polish the cutting inserts. They employed abrasive brushing tools with filament-integrated diamond grits. This process proved to be significantly resource-intensive, requiring additional time per piece and a complex robotized cell.

THE GOAL

The client was looking to improve production capacity and quality while reducing the cost of polishing carbide inserts. The customer needed to surface finish the tools to achieve higher quality and longer lifecycles.

The target was to achieve a mirror surface finish and a significant roughness reduction to reach an Ra goal below 0.01 μm (4 microinches). The parts are ground to have the exact size, geometry, and sharpness after polishing, so there are no specific requirements regarding edge radius. Additionally, improving the aesthetics of the tool would be valuable. Since most inserts receive a coating at the final step, enhancing the surface quality before this stage is also beneficial.

THE SOLUTION

After conducting multiple tests, GPAINNOVA successfully met the technical surface specifications while achieving the lowest total process time and cost. These specifications encompassed high-gloss polishing of the external surface of the mouthpieces, maintaining the original geometry, preserving laser engraved letters or signs, and enhancing the quality of the silver or gold plating.

Thanks to the innovative DLyte solution, the customer replaced the former process, which involved manual buffing and a polishing time of 10 minutes per piece, with a new method capable of treating 40 parts in just 10 minutes. In other words, DLyte’s system is 40 times faster and more efficient than the previous one.

TECHNICAL BENEFITS

01. Without leaching effect
02. Geometry and tolerance preservation & homogeneous results across the piece
03. Best-in-class concerning surface roughness (Ra under 0.1 micrometers)
04. Stable results among different batches within the electrolyte lifespan
05. Longer lifespan for treated parts

OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

01. Reduced footprint
02. Time and cost reduction
03. Exposure of workers during process and maintenance
04. Handling and storage of media
05. No need for multistep processes
06. Easy waste management