An assement of centrifugal cast single point cutting tools

Abstract

v newlineABSTRACT newlineRecycling and re-use of materials constitute an important concept for newlineparticipating in the economy of a country to what so ever extent it is possible. With the newlineabove in mind, the current project has been designed to reuse the scrapped HSS tools newlineafter their prolonged use for the development of fresh HSS single point cutting tools. newlineSingle point cutting tools were developed adopting a novel technique involving newlinecentrifugal casting using scrapped and discarded tools. The process could do away with newlinecostly forging operations and stringent processes of compositional control. The scrapped newlinetools were melted in an induction furnace and cast into solid, cylindrical bars in a newlinevertical rotating mould. These tools included single point cutting tools, drills, milling newlinecutters, taps, reamers, gear cutters, etc. Single point cutting tools were developed from newlinethe cast bar adopting the wire-EDM technique and subsequent heat treatment. The heat newlinetreatment involved heating the bar at 1200°C in a raising hearth furnace and holding it at newlinetemperature for 2 hrs, followed by water quenching and tempering. Tempering was newlineperformed at 550°C. Upon heat treatment, the centrifugal cast tool exhibited a reduction newlineof grain size of about 60% accompanied by about 22.7% increase in the hardness. The newlinemicrostructural analysis of the heat-treated, developed tool and the HSS M2 tool newlinerevealed, the formation of eutectic carbides of platelet shape in the developed tool. newlineHowever, globular-shaped carbides were observed in the HSS M2 tool. Also, the newlineprecipitation of M6C and MC carbides was seen in the XRD analysis for both tools. MC newlineprecipitated more in the developed centrifugal cast tool compared to the collected HSS newlineM2 tool. Upon EDX analysis, W, V, Cr were found to be the prime eleme newline