Coated cemented carbide endmill having hard-material-coated-layers excellent in adhesion

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a coated cemented carbide endmill exhibiting excellent wear resistance for a long period of time.

[0004] 2. Description of the Background

[0005] Conventionally, coated cemented carbide endmills are composed of a tungsten carbide (WC) based cemented carbide substrate (hereinafter “cemented carbide substrate”) having a surface portion with an average layer thickness of 0.5-5 μm of hard-material-coated-layers composed of a Ti compound. The Ti compound is one or more layers of a titanium carbide (TiC), titanium nitride (TiN), titanium carbide-nitride (TiCN), titanium oxy-carbide (TiCO), titanium oxy-nitride (TiNO) and titanium oxy-carbo-nitride (TiCNO). Each of the hard-material-coated-layers is formed by medium temperature chemical vapor deposition (MT-CVD) (a method in which vapor deposition is performed at 700-980° C., a temperature lower than the vapor deposition temperature 1000-1150° C. employed by ordinary high temperature chemical vapor deposition (HT-CVD)), as shown in, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-88509.

[0006] In order to save labor and energy, there has been a tendency to increase cutting speed in a cutting process. When the conventional coated cemented carbide endmills are used under these high speed conditions, the hard-material-coated layers tend to exfoliate due to insufficient adhesion, resulting in endmills which are remarkably worn and which have a relatively short life.

[0007] An object of the invention is to provide a coated cemented carbide endmill having hard-material-coated layers having excellent adhesion.

[0008] The inventors of the present invention directed their attention to the conventional coated cemented carbide endmills and made studies to improve the adhesion of the hard-material-coated layers. As a result, the inventors discovered that when a coated cemented carbide endmill is arranged as shown in the following items (a), (b) and (c), the adhesion of the Ti compound layer to the surface of the cemented carbide substrate of the endmill is greatly improved by a surface layer formed on the surface portion thereof by heating at high temperatures. The hard-material-coated layer of the coated cemented carbide endmill is not exfoliated even if the endmill is used in high speed cutting, and furthermore the endmill exhibits excellent wear resistance over a long period of time:

[0009] (a) the cemented carbide substrate has a composition of 5-20 wt % of Co (hereinafter, % means wt %) as a binder phase forming component, optionally 0.1-2% of Cr and/or V as binder phase forming components, optionally, 0.1-5% of one or more carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides of Ti, Ta, Nb and/or Zr, such as TiC, TiN, TiCN, TaC, TaN, TaCN, NbC, NbN, NbCN, ZrC, ZrN and ZRCN, as well as two or more solid solutions thereof (hereinafter “(Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr) C·N”) as a dispersed phase forming component, and the balance WC as a dispersed phase forming component and inevitable impurities, wherein the WC has a fine grained structure having an average grain size of 0.1-1. 5 μm;

[0010] (b) when the cemented carbide substrate shown in (a) is heated at a high temperature in a hydrogen atmosphere containing a carbon dioxide gas or titanium tetrachloride at a pressure of 50-550 torr, and the substrate is held at a temperature of 900-1000° C. for 1-15 minutes, a reaction-created surface layer, in which a complex carbide of Co and W (Co_mW_nC or cobalt tungsten carbide) is distributed, is formed on the surface portion of the base substance over a predetermined thickness;

[0011] (c) hard-material-coated layers composed of a Ti compound layer and, optionally, an aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) layer, are formed on the surface of the substrate having the reaction-created surface layer which is formed by heating at high temperature and in which Co_mW_nC shown in (b) is distributed, wherein the Ti compound layer is composed of one or more layers of TiC, TiN, TiCN, TiCO, TiNO and TiCNO, using MT-CVD, and the optional aluminum oxide layer is formed using MT-CVD or HT-CVD.

[0012] The present invention includes a coated cemented carbide endmill having hard-material-coated layers excellent in adhesion, the endmill comprising a tungsten carbide based cemented carbide substrate comprising 5-20% Co as a binder phase forming component, optionally 0.1-2% of Cr and/or V as a binder phase forming component, optionally 0.1-5% of one or more of (Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr) C·N as a dispersed phase forming component, and the balance being WC as the dispersed phase forming component and inevitable impurities. The WC has a fine grained structure having an average grain size of 0.1-1.5 μm, the cemented carbide substrate has a reaction-created surface layer formed on the surface portion thereof which is formed by heating at high temperature and in which Co_mW_nC is distributed over a thickness of 0.1-2 μm thereof, and further the substrate has coated layers composed of a Ti compound layer. Optionally, an Al₂O₃layer is formed thereon with an average layer thickness of 0.5-4.5 μm, the Ti compound layer being composed of one or more layers of TiC, TiN, TiCN, TiCO, TiNO and TiCNO using MT-CVD and the Al₂O₃layer is formed using MT-CVD or HT-CVD.

[0013] Next, reasons why the compositions of the cemented carbide substrate constituting the coated cemented carbide endmill of the present invention, the average particle size of WC particles and the average thickness of the reaction-created surface layer and the average layer thickness of the hard-material coated layers, are limited as described above, will be described.

[0014] Co Content

[0015] Co improves sinterability, thereby improving the toughness of the cemented carbide substrate. When the Co content is less than 5%, however, the desired toughness improving effect is not obtained, whereas when the Co content is larger than 20%, not only is the wear resistance of the cemented carbide substrate itself lowered, but also the cemented carbide substrate is deformed by the heat generated during high speed cutting. Thus, the Co content is 5-20%, preferably to 8-12%.

[0016] Cr and V Content

[0017] Cr and V dissolve in solid Co as the binder phase forming component, strengthening it as well as contributing to inhibit the growth of WC grains. Furthermore, Cr and V act to promote the formation of the reaction-created surface layer in which Co_mW_nC is distributed, formed by heating at high temperature thereby improving the adhesion of the hard-material-coated layers achieved by the reaction-created surface layer. When the content of Cr and/or V is less than 0.1%, however, it cannot be expected that the above effect is achieved, whereas when the content of Cr and/or V is larger than 2%, the above action is saturated and the improving effect is not further enhanced. Thus, the content of Cr and/or V is set to 0.1-2%, preferably 0.4-0.8%.

[0018] When the coated cemented carbide endmill is made, it is preferable that Cr and V as the binder phase forming component are used in the form of carbides, nitrides and oxides of Cr and/or V (such as Cr₃C₂, CrN, Cr₂O₃, VC, VN and V₂O₅) (hereinafter “(Cr, V) C·N·O as the entire group”) as material powders. Since these material powders are dissolved in solid Co as the binder phase forming component when sintering is carried out, and form a binder phase, a precipitate containing Cr and/or V as an individual component cannot be observed by optical microscopy or scanning electron microscopy.

[0019] (Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr) C·N Content

[0020] These components act to improve the wear resistance of the cemented carbide substrate. When their content is less than 0.1%, however, the desired wear resistance improving effect is not obtained. When they are present in an amount larger than 5%, toughness is lowered. Thus, the individual content of each is set to 0.1-5%, preferably 1-2.5%.

[0021] Average Particle Size of WC

[0022] The strength of the cemented carbide substrate is improved by the fine grained structure of WC grains. The fine grained structure is obtained by choosing the particle size of WC powder used as material powder to be 1.5 μm or less. Accordingly, when the average particle size of the material powder is larger than 1.5 μm, the desired strength improving effect is not obtained, whereas when it is less than 0.1 μm, wear resistance is lowered. Thus, the average particle size of the WC powder is selected to be 0.1-1.5 μm, preferably 0.6-1.0 μm, and the average grain size of WC grains in the cemented carbide substrate is 0.1-1.5 μm, preferably 0.6-1.0 μm.

[0023] Average Thickness of Reaction-Created Surface Layer

[0024] The portion of the endmill which contributes to cutting is the cutting edge, and the portion of the endmill which is far from the cutting edge does not contribute to cutting, and therefore the average thickness of the reaction-created surface layer, in which Co_mW_nC is distributed, is important at the cutting edge. When the average thickness of the reaction-created surface layer is less than 0.1 μm, the ratio of its distribution in the surface layer formed by heating at high temperature is too small for the reaction-created surface layer to secure the desired adhesion to the hard-material-coated layers. When the average thickness of the reaction-created surface layer is larger than 2 μm, the ratio of the average thickness of the reaction-created surface layer is excessively large, and therefore chipping is liable to occur at the cutting edge. Thus, the average thickness is chosen to be 0.1-2 μm, preferably 0.5-1.5 μm.

[0025] Average Layer Thickness of the Hard-Material-Coated Layers

[0026] When the average layer thickness of the hard-material-coated layers is less than 0.5 μm, the desired excellent wear resistance is not be obtained, whereas when the average layer thickness is larger than 4.5 μm, chipping is liable to occur at the cutting edge. Thus, the average layer thickness is set selected to 0.5-4.5 μm, preferably to 1.5-2.5 μm.

[0027] Having generally described this invention, a further understanding can be obtained by reference to certain specific examples which are provided herein for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to be limiting unless otherwise specified.

[0028] WC powder having an average particle size within the range of 0.1-1.5 μm, various carbide powder, nitride powder and carbo-nitride powder each having the average particle size of 0.5 μm as shown in Table 1 and Table 2 and constituting (Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr) C·N and Co powder having an average particle size of 0.5 μm, were prepared as material powders. These material powders were blended to the composition shown in Table 1 and Table 2, wet mixed in a ball mill for 72 hours and dried, and thereafter pressed to form green compact at a pressure of 1 ton/cm². The green compacts were vacuum sintered for one hour in a vacuum of 1×10⁻³torr at a temperature within the range of 1350-1500° C. The cemented carbide substrates a-z which had compositions substantially similar to the above blended compositions and contained WC grains having the average grain sizes shown in Table 1 and Table 2 were formed.

[0029] Cemented carbide substrates A-Z were made by forming a surface layer by heating at high temperature the surface portion of each of the cemented carbide substrates a-z under the conditions shown in Table 3 and Table 4, the reaction-created surface layer having distributed Co_mW_nC over the average thickness shown in Table 3 and Table 4.

[0030] Subsequently, hard-material-coated layers having the compositions and the average layer thicknesses shown in Table 6 and Table 7 were formed under the conditions shown in Table 5 on the surface of each of the cemented carbide substrates A-Z and coated cemented carbide ball-nose endmills of the present invention (hereinafter “coated endmills of the present invention”) 1-26 were made. The endmills were composed of a shank portion and a two-flute portion and had a ball-nose radius of 5 mm and a nelix angle of 30°.

[0031] For the purpose of comparison, comparative coated cemented carbide endmills (hereinafter “comparative coated endmill”) 1-26 were made, respectively under conditions similar to the above conditions except that cemented carbide substrates a-z, to which the surface layer formed by heating at high temperature was not formed, were used in place of the cemented carbide substrates A-Z having the above surface layer as shown in Table 8.

[0032] Next, high speed copy milling was carried out, using the coated endmills 1-26 of the present invention and the comparative coated endmills 1-26, on alloy steel in a dry state by alternate down-cut and up-cut milling under the following conditions. The worn width of the maximum flank face of the cutting edge of each of the endmills was measured.

[0033] material to be cut: SKD61 (hardness: HRC: 53)

[0034] cutting speed: 800 m/min

[0035] feed per tooth: 0.1 mm/cutting edge

[0036] depth of cut: 0.5 mm

[0037] width of cut: 0.5 mm

[0038] length of cut: 250 m

[0039] Since the comparative coated endmills 1-26 were worn at high speed, the cutting operation was interrupted when the width of the maximum flank wear of the cutting edge reached 0.3 mm, and the cut length up to that time was measured. Tables 6-8 show the resulting measurements.

[0040] WC powder having an average particle size within the range of 0.1-1.5 μm, Cr₃C₂powder having an average particle size of 0.5 μm, VC powder having an average particle size of 0.5 μm and Co powder having an average particle size of 0.5 μm were prepared as material powders. These material powders were blended at a predetermined blend ratio, wet mixed in a ball mill for 72 hours and dried, and thereafter pressed to green compact at the pressure of 1 ton/cm²and the green compact was vacuum sintered for one hour in a vacuum of 1×10⁻³torr at a temperature within the range of 1350-1500° C. The cemented carbide substrates a-t which had the compositions shown in Table 9 and contained WC grains having the average grain size shown in Table 9 were formed.

[0041] Cemented carbide substrates A-T were made by forming a surface layer by heating at high temperature the surface portion of each of the cemented carbide substrates a-z under the conditions shown in Table 10, the reaction-created surface layer having distributed Co_mW_nC over the average thickness shown in Table 10.

[0042] Subsequently, hard-material-coated layers having the compositions and the average layer thicknesses shown in Table 12 were formed under the conditions shown in Table 11 on the surface of each of the cemented carbide substrates A-T and coated cemented carbide ball-nose endmills of the present invention (hereinafter “coated endmills of the present invention”) 1-20 were made. The endmills were composed of a shank portion and a two-flute portion and had a ball-nose radius of 5 mm and a helix angle of 30°.

[0043] For the purpose of comparison, comparative coated cemented carbide endmills (hereinafter “comparative coated endmills”) 1-20 were made, respectively under conditions similar to the above conditions except that cemented carbide substrates a-t, to which the surface layer formed by heating at high temperature was not formed, were used in place of the cemented carbide substrates A-T having the above surface layer as shown in Table 13.

[0044] Next, high speed copy milling was carried out, using the coated endmills 1-20 of the present invention and the comparative coated endmills 1-20, on alloy steel in a dry state by alternate down-cut and up-cut milling under the following conditions. The worn width of the maximum flank face of the cutting edge of each of the endmills was measured.

[0045] material to be cut: SKD61 (hardness: HRC: 53)

[0046] cutting speed: 500 m/min

[0047] feed per tooth: 0.1 mm/cutting edge

[0048] depth of cut: 0.5 mm

[0049] width of cut: 0.5 mm

[0050] length of cut: 350 m

[0051] Table 12 and Table 13 show the result of measurement, respectively.

[0052] WC powder having an average particle size within the range of 0.1-1.5 μm, various carbide powder, nitride powder, oxide powder and carbo-nitride powder each having an average particle size of 0.5 μm and constituting (Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr) C·N and (Cr, V) C·N·O, Co powder having an average particle size of 0.5 μm and carbon powder for adjusting an amount of carbon, were prepared as material powders. These material powders were blended to a predetermined composition, wet mixed in a ball mill for 72 hours and dried, and thereafter pressed to green compact at the pressure of 1 ton/cm²and the green compact was vacuum sintered for one hour in a vacuum of 1×10⁻³torr at a temperature in the range of 1350-1500° C. Cemented carbide substrates a-s which had the compositions shown in Table 14 and contained WC grains having the average grain size shown in Table 14 were formed.

[0053] Cemented carbide substrates A-S were made by forming a surface layer by heating at high temperature the surface portion of each of the cemented carbide substrates a-s under the conditions shown in Table 15, the reaction-created surface layer having distributed Co_mW_nC over the average thickness shown in Table 15.

[0054] Subsequently, hard-material-coated layers having the compositions and the average layer thicknesses shown in Table 17 were formed under the conditions shown in Table 16 on the surface of each of the cemented carbide substrates A-S and coated carbide ball-nose endmills of the present invention (hereinafter, “coated endmills of the present invention”) 1-19 were made. The endmills were composed of a shank portion and a two-flute portion and had a ball-nose radius of 5 mm and a helix angle of 30°.

[0055] For the purpose of comparison, comparative coated cemented carbide endmills (hereinafter “comparative coated endmills”) 1-19 were made, respectively under conditions similar to the above conditions except that cemented carbide substrates a-s, to which the surface layer formed by heating at high temperature was not formed, were used in place of the cemented carbide substrates A-S having the above surface layer as shown in Table 18.

[0056] Next, high speed copy milling was carried out, using the coated endmills 1-19 of the present invention and the comparative coated endmills 1-19, on alloy steel in a dry state by alternate down-cut and up-cut milling, under the following conditions. The width of the maximum flank wear of the cutting edge of each of the endmills was measured.

[0057] material to be cut: SKD61 (hardness: HRC: 53)

[0058] cutting speed: 650 m/min

[0059] feed-per tooth: 0.1 mm/cutting edge

[0060] depth of cut: 0.5 mm

[0061] width of cut: 0.5 mm

[0062] time of cut: 50 min

[0063] Table 17 and Table 18 show the result of measurement, respectively.

[0064] It is apparent from the results shown in Tables 6-8, 12, 13, 17 and 18 that the hard-material-coated layers of the coated endmills of the present invention were not exfoliated and the endmills thereby exhibited excellent wear resistance. In contrast, the hard-material coated layers of the comparative coated endmills were exfoliated midway through the cutting process and the endmills were greatly worn by the exfoliation and their life was ended in a relatively short period of time.

[0065] In the coated carbide endmills of the present invention, since the adhesion of the hard-material-coated layers to the surface of the cemented carbide substrate is greatly improved by the reaction-created surface layer, in which Co,WWnC is distributed, formed on the surface portion of the base substance by heating at high temperature as described above, the hard-material-coated layers are not exfoliated, not only when the endmills are used under usual cutting conditions but also even if the endmills are used in high speed cutting. Accordingly, the coated cemented carbide endmills of the present invention exhibit excellent wear resistance for a long period of time.

[0066] Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

[0067] The priority document of the present application, Japanese Patent Application No. 9-236882 filed on Sep. 2, 1997, is hereby incorporated by reference.