Speaking of hardness, many people may immediately think of diamonds. Diamonds do have a strong hardness, and they are familiar to us. In addition to diamonds, there is another material with a very high hardness, which is the cemented carbide. As its name suggests, "cemented" carbides give us the impression of strong hardness. So what kind of carbide is cemented carbide? What is its hardness? What are its special uses? Today we are going to talk with you about how hard the cemented carbide is.
Cemented carbide is an carbide made by the method of powder metallurgy with one or several refractory carbide powders as the main component, and metal powder such as cobalt, nickel, etc. as the bonding agent. It is mainly used to make high-speed cutting tools and cutting tools for hard and tough materials, as well as cold working molds, measuring tools, and high wear-resistant parts that are not subject to impact or vibration. In recent years, it has been relatively active in the steel market. Whether it is imported or exported, sales have always been relatively optimistic.
The characteristics of cemented carbide are high bending strength, impact resistance, and good vibration resistance. It is suitable for low-speed rough machining of cast iron, non-ferrous metals and their carbides, and non-metallic materials. At present, cemented carbide cutting tools are mainly carbide cutter in China. The hardness of the tool is mainly determined by the amount of tungsten. Cemented carbide is suitable for CNC cutting tools, including reamers, milling cutters, drills, engraving knives, welding knives, turning tools and various non-standard knives, etc. It is not suitable for household kitchen knives or fruit knives.
The hardness of cemented carbide can reach 86 to 93HRA, and it can maintain ultra-high hardness even at 900 to 100 degrees, and has ultra-high wear resistance. Its hardness remains basically unchanged even at a temperature of 500°C, and is still high at 1000°C. Compared with ordinary tool steel, the cutting speed can be increased by 10 times, and the service life can be increased by 5 to 10 times, and it can cut cemented carbide materials with a hardness of up to 60HRC.