ALOX^® SN²

A universal tool masters three applications

After many years of cooperation, the partners usually know each other very well. Each knows what it can expect from the other and what can be achieved with this alliance. Since its founding in 1987, the tool manufacturer Depo GmbH has placed its trust in the coating competence of CemeCon. And that's why the company from the area near Gütersloh in Germany is now one of the first to coat with the new SN² Supernitride class – and to use it from the very start for a new line of cutting inserts.

A longer tool life and shorter machining cycles – the pressure to reduce costs in the machining industry demands that all available savings potentials are fully utilized. That's especially important in industries in which the consecutive use of a large number of different tools for each application is required. There every manufacturer is happy to order, store and use as few tool versions as possible.

New cutting insert generation offers triple benefits

So that customers can now be provided with relief in this point, Depo developed the new XPERT cutting insert generation according to the “three-in-one” principle. From roughing milling to 3D milling to HSC milling – the patented new development covers all applications expected of an APKT, a rhombic and a polygon insert. In the process, different clearance angles of the cutting inserts from 90° to 105° achieve the various functions of the tool required in each case.

With specifications of this kind, the standard for the tool coating was accordingly high. Andreas Schaeper, National Sales Manager at Depo says, “The greatest challenge was certainly meeting the various requirements for the functions of the cutting inserts. That could only be guaranteed with an extremely rugged, smooth and heat-resistant coating solution. That much was clear.”

The desired coating properties correspond exactly to the new Supernitrides of the SN² class. Dr. Rainer Cremer, Executive Director Technical Unit at CemeCon explains,“That's why Depo is one of the first of our customers to use the advantages of SN². And the results are quite good. With the new line of cutting inserts, enormous increases in the tool life and top surface quality now offer Depo customers ideal properties for even more economical production.”

Source: FACTS 25 page 10

Economical drilling with SN² Supernitrides

Many sources of error can make the drilling process unproductive. For chips and heat to flow off correctly, tools with excellent hot hardness, high wear resistance, sharp cutting edges and smooth surfaces are required. Tool manufacturers offer their customers efficient solutions. With the right coating – adapted to the tool, workpiece and all other process parameters. This is made possible by the SN² Supernitrides from CemeCon. These coatings are smooth, droplet-free, hard and at the same time tough, and make tools fit – especially for high-tech applications.

Jamming chips, heat build-up, changing loading of the cutting edges, ridges or smeared-on material – the list of potential error sources during drilling is a long one.

Machinists, who still bank on conventional drill bits in the respective applications, e.g. in automotive industry and increasingly also in the aerospace sector are at a loss as how to solve these problems. Aborting the process or frequent tool changes are only a few of the consequences resulting from the use of incorrect or uncoated drill bits. In contrast, modern coating solutions offer not only innovative microgeometries, but also enormous potentials.

Manfred Weigand, Product Manager Round Tools at CemeCon says,
“Around 75 percent of the drill bits used are coated, however all too often with rough coatings ‘off the rack’.

Innovative coatings are what’s needed to realize high-speed drilling, but also increasingly deep-drilling operations with all the current and future demanding requirements. They have to have outstanding adhesive properties, be extremely hard and at the same time tough. In addition, they also have to be extremely smooth and droplet-free, and be highly resistant to oxidation and wear.”

Adapted Supernitride power

All these requirements are simultaneously met by the CemeCon SN² Supernitrides. Their especially tension-free coating structure enables the wear volume necessary for drilling operations.

The fault-free surface ensures frictionless chip removal. As a result, the machinist can optimally machine not only hardened and tempered steel, but also high-tech materials with SN² Supernitrides optimized for the drilling application.

“Without coatings adapted to the respective application, modern cutting tasks are unsolvable and first-class shape and surface qualities cannot be achieved. Tasks that could hardly be more different require exactly matched tool geometries. And of course, that also applied to the right coating,” explains Manfred Weigand.

Just how important a coating solution customized to fit the drilling operation is, becomes apparent, for example, when drilling 14NiCr10. Here the ALOX^® SN² Supernitride coating especially well-suited for drilling operations achieve a considerably higher number of drilled holes than other solutions – 45 percent more in the specific example.

Source: FACTS 26 page 8