Problems in Tool Design

Manufacturing defects, operating errors and unforeseen events all have an impact on tool operating life. Heat treatment naturally plays a wide role due to its significant influence on the tool's physical and mechanical properties, and indeed most defects appear after the heat treatment stage. Especially with some more recent heat treatment methods like annealing, remedial action is undoubtedly called for. To optimise the operating life of a given cutting tool, failures must be minimised in all manufacturing process going into its production and its proper use must be ensured. A register of tool failures covering the full range of failure sources can, therefore, contribute significantly to a tool operating life improvement and hence, to more efficient manufacturing.

Heat treatment problems are mostly attributable due to weak structural toughness resulting in the premature failure in the form of tool breakage/fracturing. This problem has several causes, one of which is the widespread conversion of effectively all heat treatment operations to vacuum-hardening technology. The previously common brine hardening method has become rare as a result of environmental effects. However, it had the advantage of permitting the quenching process at variable rates in oil, air, or water. With the vacuum process, the quench rate lies somewhere between air quenching and oil quenching, i.e., it is slower than in the brine hardening process. This essential parameter, which gives measurement, defines the quench rate in today’s applications. In order to get more technical information about different tools design you can easily contact different Online Experts at the time of need.

Premature tool failures due to defects (including heat treatment failures) are particularly critical in high-performance tools pushing the limits of achievable material mechanical properties. Optimized heat treatment can help greatly in these cases to make the performance capability of such high-performance tools fully accessible.

Tool Failures and Their Significance:

Understanding and prevention of tool failures must be viewed from different perspectives:

Prevention of economic loss to,

• Tool users
• Tool manufacturers
• Steelmakers
• Safety issues, i.e., the need to ensure
• Operating safety
• Labour safety
• Environmental safety
• Compliance with quality assurance requirements, e.g., QS 9000
• Performance and service life improvement
• Increased production reliability, since tool failures usually entail production disruptions up to the point of a production shutdown.

Investigation of Tool Failures:

The investigation of tool failures comprises several stages. Starting with the macroscopic analysis, cracks and fracture paths, pores and fracture surface features are evaluated. Chemical tests identify cases of incorrect material identity. Hardness testing is conducted to check for an adequate working hardness or, where appropriate, hardness distribution. The main instrument in tool failure analysis is the metallographic investigation, which determines material properties on the one hand (carbide distribution, cleanliness, grain size) and material defects on the other (porosity, shrinkage holes, excessive segregation, inclusions). Machining defects (grinding or erosion faults) are likewise detected at this stage. The core element of any metallographic investigation is the inspection of the microstructure imparted by heat treatment (tempering condition, retained austenite, banding, coarseness, and decarburisation).

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