Characteristic of PCD Cutters and Popular Science of Its Using Methods

In the past, expensive prices have been a major obstacle to the widespread acceptance of PCD (polycrystalline diamond) cutters for users, but the situation has changed a lot. In the past two or three years, the price of PCD cutters has dropped. One of the reasons for the price dive of PCD cutters is that the market is oversupply, and manufacturers selling PCD cutters have to adjust their prices in order to adapt to the relationship between the supply and demand in the market.

Processing aluminium workpiece with PCD cutter has the advantages of long tool life and high metal removal rate. Its disadvantage is that the cutter is expensive and the processing cost is high. There is a consensus on this point in the machinery manufacturing industry. However, in recent years, many changes have taken place in the development and application of PCD cutters. Nowadays, another change of PCD cutter is that the processing cost is decreasing. Under the combined effect of market competition pressure and tool manufacturing process improvement, the price of PCD cutter has dropped dramatically.

When cutting aluminium alloy materials, the manufacturer who specializes in having the PDC cutters for sale recommends the use of fine (or medium) PCD grades to process silicon-free and low-silicon aluminium alloy materials. The correct application of PCD tools is the prerequisite to obtain satisfactory processing results. Although the specific causes of tool failure vary, they are usually due to incorrect use of objects or methods. Generally speaking, in order to reduce cutting force and prevent chip accumulation, PCD cutters should adopt positive cutting angle. However, when processing high silicon aluminium alloy (especially when PCD cutter is used instead of cemented carbide tool), the back angle of PCD cutter is better slightly reduced than that of original cemented carbide tool, so as to improve the cutting performance of PCD cutter for high silicon aluminium alloy.

Successful application of PCD blades depends not only on the rational selection of tool geometry and cutting parameters, but also on the solution of problems encountered in tool use by cutter suppliers.