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With the unveiling of its next-generation Duratomic Technology, Seco Tools LLC introduces three new turning insert grades that achieve the elusive balance of toughness and hardness when machining steel alloys and other workpiece materials such as cast irons and stainless steels.
The new TP2501, TP1501 and TP0501 represent an evolution and expansion of the Duratomic technology introduced by Seco in 2007, which was a textured, a-based Al2O3 coating. The Duratomic CVD aluminium-oxide coating process manipulates coating components at an atomic level to achieve improved mechanical and thermal properties and enhance performance.
The TP2501, TP1501 and TP0501 combine the benefits of advanced aluminum-oxide coatings with specially developed compositions of the tools' bulk substrates and cobalt-enriched zones. Modifications of those elements make the new grades both tougher and more wear resistant than their predecessors, across the board.
According to Seco, the latest Duratomic technology used in TP2501, TP1501 and TP0501 improves productivity by at least 20 percent in average turning applications as compared with the original TP2500, TP1500 and TP0500 grades. The company's team effort has made it possible for these new grades to handle a wider range of speeds, allowing manufacturers to apply them to applications requiring higher or lower speeds while maintaining comparable tool life.
In addition to achieving the toughness and hardness balance, the new inserts incorporate Edge Intelligence, an innovative used-edge detection technology. The insert surfaces feature an approximately 0.1µm-thick chrome-colored coating. Black aluminum oxide showing through the chrome-colored coating clearly identifies a used insert edge and allows operators on busy shop floors to easily spot them. Also, key to Edge Intelligence is that its high-contrast used-edge marks do not impact tool performance or machining-related parameters such as cutting data. As a result, manufacturers can process more parts per edge, limit production interruptions and reduce waste.
TP2501, TP1501 and TP0501 are available in a broad range of insert sizes and geometries to accommodate everything from roughing to finishing operations. Plus, the three grades' application areas overlap, resulting in a seamless progression, without gaps, from inserts engineered to reliably handle a wide range of general applications at moderate cutting speeds through tools that permit process optimization with higher parameters.
TP2501 is a versatile grade with highly secure edge toughness behavior that brings dependable productivity and reliable part production to general steel turning applications. It is the preferred grade for operations that involve a variety of workpiece material requirements and unpredictable working conditions.
TP1501 is a general grade with well-balanced properties that make it ideal for applications requiring high wear resistance in low-alloy steel workpieces. Furthermore, the grade offers the potential for higher cutting speeds, while the high reliability and accuracy ensures consistent part quality.
TP0501 is a general grade best suited for stable machining conditions and situations requiring high output. Of the new TP grades, it provides the highest possible wear resistance and/or cutting speeds in high-alloy and abrasive steel turning applications. Furthermore, the extreme heat resistance of the TP0501 makes it possible for users to achieve high metal removal rates without the need for coolant.
Related Glossary Terms
- abrasive
abrasive
Substance used for grinding, honing, lapping, superfinishing and polishing. Examples include garnet, emery, corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride and diamond in various grit sizes.
- alloys
alloys
Substances having metallic properties and being composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.
- aluminum oxide
aluminum oxide
Aluminum oxide, also known as corundum, is used in grinding wheels. The chemical formula is Al2O3. Aluminum oxide is the base for ceramics, which are used in cutting tools for high-speed machining with light chip removal. Aluminum oxide is widely used as coating material applied to carbide substrates by chemical vapor deposition. Coated carbide inserts with Al2O3 layers withstand high cutting speeds, as well as abrasive and crater wear.
- cast irons
cast irons
Cast ferrous alloys containing carbon in excess of solubility in austenite that exists in the alloy at the eutectic temperature. Cast irons include gray cast iron, white cast iron, malleable cast iron and ductile, or nodular, cast iron. The word “cast” is often left out.
- chemical vapor deposition ( CVD)
chemical vapor deposition ( CVD)
High-temperature (1,000° C or higher), atmosphere-controlled process in which a chemical reaction is induced for the purpose of depositing a coating 2µm to 12µm thick on a tool’s surface. See coated tools; PVD, physical vapor deposition.
- coolant
coolant
Fluid that reduces temperature buildup at the tool/workpiece interface during machining. Normally takes the form of a liquid such as soluble or chemical mixtures (semisynthetic, synthetic) but can be pressurized air or other gas. Because of water’s ability to absorb great quantities of heat, it is widely used as a coolant and vehicle for various cutting compounds, with the water-to-compound ratio varying with the machining task. See cutting fluid; semisynthetic cutting fluid; soluble-oil cutting fluid; synthetic cutting fluid.
- hardness
hardness
Hardness is a measure of the resistance of a material to surface indentation or abrasion. There is no absolute scale for hardness. In order to express hardness quantitatively, each type of test has its own scale, which defines hardness. Indentation hardness obtained through static methods is measured by Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers and Knoop tests. Hardness without indentation is measured by a dynamic method, known as the Scleroscope test.
- stainless steels
stainless steels
Stainless steels possess high strength, heat resistance, excellent workability and erosion resistance. Four general classes have been developed to cover a range of mechanical and physical properties for particular applications. The four classes are: the austenitic types of the chromium-nickel-manganese 200 series and the chromium-nickel 300 series; the martensitic types of the chromium, hardenable 400 series; the chromium, nonhardenable 400-series ferritic types; and the precipitation-hardening type of chromium-nickel alloys with additional elements that are hardenable by solution treating and aging.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
- wear resistance
wear resistance
Ability of the tool to withstand stresses that cause it to wear during cutting; an attribute linked to alloy composition, base material, thermal conditions, type of tooling and operation and other variables.
