Steel
ISO P
Machining the wide range of steel tools
The ISO P material group is the largest within metal cutting. It covers steels ranging from unalloyed to high-alloyed material, including steel castings and ferritic and martensitic stainless steels. Although all steels are alloys in which iron is the major component, there are many kinds. For that reason, the specific machinability of steel for your application differs depending on material hardness, carbon content, alloying elements, heat treatment and manufacturing process (forged, rolled, cast, etc.).
In general, chip control of steel is relatively easy and smooth. Low-carbon steels produce longer chips that are sticky and require sharper cutting edges. The necessary cutting forces, and thus the power required to machine them, remain within a limited range.
Our coating solutions for steel
Optimizer™ Plus
Optimizer™ Plus is the latest premium coating of the Ionbond plus-family. At the top of our product line, and in addition to Crosscut™ Plus, this new AlCrN based coating is the optimal coating for wet and dry machining at medium to high speeds for milling, hobbing and bevel cutting operations with temperatures reaching up to 1080°C.
Ionbond™ CVD 29
Ionbond™ CVD 29 HSA Plus is exceptionally well-suited for high-volume machining of cast iron and cast steel at medium to high cutting speeds and high temperatures due to the thermo-dynamically stable structure of its ceramic content.
Coatings for ISO P steel tools
Because of the generally good machinability and chip control of steel, and the wide range of different steel alloys, a variety of cutting tool coatings exist to help optimize the machining process and extend the tool's lifetime. Ionbond's engineers would be happy to discuss which coating offers the right balance of wear resistance, anti-sticking, sharp cutting edges and other desirable properties.
Steels can be non-hardened or hardened, and tempered with a common hardness up to 400 HB. Steels with a higher hardness than this (from 48 HRC and up to 62–65 HRC) belong to the ISO H group.
Unalloyed steels
Have a carbon content lower than 0.8% and are composed solely of iron (Fe), with no other alloying elements.
Alloyed steels
Have a carbon content lower than 1.7% and contain alloying elements such as Ni, Cr, Mo, V and W. A distinction is made between low-alloyed steels (with <5% alloying elements) and high-alloyed steels (with >5% alloying elements).
Application examples
Gear cutting of steel
Determining the right coating for an automotive end user looking to machine 1.7131 steel (30-35 HRC) with a solid MC90 intermet hob. The machining process takes place under dry conditions, at a speed of 230m/min.
Continuous external turning of steel
Finding the right coating for an OEM machining 1.6582 steel with CNMG inserts. The steel has an HRC of 28. The machining process uses a cutting speed of 210 m/min, a feed of 0.3 mm per revolution and an axial depth of 2.5mm.
Contact us
Discuss your challenges with Kalpak Shaha
Kalpak Shaha, Global Segment Manager Cutting Tools, will be happy to help you.
We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Dr. Kalpak Shaha
Global Segment Manager Cutting Tools
Dr. Kalpak Shaha
Global Segment Manager Cutting Tools