Cutting Tools & Tooling

This article discusses the trend among insert makers to consolidate chipbreaker designs and carbide grades. The result is the three-chipbreaker/three-grade matrix many insert makers have adopted in some form. The evolution of the chip-forming groove is also traced, and an ANSI proposal for a grade identification system is described.

Ion implantation bombards a tool's surface with accelerated metal ions. According to this article, the process increases tool life and the performance of tool coatings. Two theories explaining why the process works are also discussed.