For each titanium the right drill!
- Mikron Tool presents the new CrazyDrill Cool Titanium ATC/PTC series at EMO 2023, which ensures maximum process reliability when drilling pure titanium and its alloys.
The high-performance material titanium poses a chip removing machining challenge. Also, not all titanium is alike. Depending on whether it is pure titanium or alloyed titanium, the chip removing process behaviour differs. For these challenges, Mikron Tool has developed drills perfectly tailored to the respective titanium grades, which can machine titanium safely, with higher cutting performance results, longer tool lives and excellent hole quality.
Titanium is highly demanding
Machining the unruly titanium is highly demanding. One of the reasons is the combination of its properties of high elasticity and tensile strength. Because of the high toughness, chip breaking is difficult to realize. Due to its low thermal conductivity, heat is not dissipated from the cutting area through the chip. In addition, titanium tends to form built-up edges. This all leads to higher wear and reduces process reliability during drilling.
When drilling, the challenge is even greater
And drilling in titanium is much more challenging than milling. The viscoelastic property of titanium causes the drill to stick, and the pressure on the cutting edges increases. This usually leads to uncontrolled drill breakage. Material sticking on cutting edges and guide chamfers increase cutting forces, as a result of which the cutting edges can break out. Moreover, the chip shape is also problematic. This is because the titanium chips tend to compact in the head area and prevent further chips from flowing in. The high temperature load on the cutting edges is an additional complicating factor.
Cool the tool!
To reduce the heat in the cutting area, the cooling lubricant must reach the machining area directly. Two cooling channels with very large cross-sections carry massive amounts of coolant to the drill tip and guarantee constant cooling including lubrication of the cutting edges. At the same time, the massive coolant jet flushes the chips through the polished flutes and prevents chip jams.
The patented special shape of the cooling channels and a specially offset second clearance angle (special clearance form) significantly increase the flow of coolant in the flute. As a result, 4 times more coolant is fed through the tool to the drill tip at the same pressure. This is a further key to success and stands for innovation in the thermal dissipation and chip removal technology.
Not all titanium is alike
To process this material efficiently, it is necessary to know it down to the smallest detail. Mikron Tool has examined various test materials and discovered that the different grades of titanium are extremely different from each other, which is of utmost relevance for their industrial machining. Pure titanium (grades 1-4) is characterized by high corrosion resistance, but has lower mechanical strength. Alloyed titanium (grade 5 and higher) has high strength but low ductility.
Material-specific drills are the solution
Getting to grips with these differences in terms of machining technology is a master stroke. Thanks to the meticulous development work and the knowledge gained from it, the Mikron Tool engineers found - as of today - the perfect solution: two specific geometries, one for pure titanium grades and one for titanium alloys. In this way, perfectly controlled chip removal, high drilling speeds, long tool lives and repeatable processes with optimum drilling quality for these difficult titanium materials are guaranteed.
The new CrazyDrill Cool Titanium - twice as fast
The new CrazyDrill Cool Titanium series is offered in the diameter range of 1 - 6.35 mm (.039" – 1/4"). For pure titanium, Mikron Tool developed short drills with 3 x d and drills with
6 x d. For titanium alloys, Mikron Tool relies on drills with 6 x d and 10 x d in combination with a pilot drill.
For the cost-effective production of titanium components, tools are required which are specially adapted to the material properties of the various titanium grades.
Titanium material as well as the workpiece are expensive, which is why high process reliability and calculable tool live are so important. If the latter can be improved, so much the better. Mikron Tool’s new high-performance drills for titanium have up to 3 times longer tool life and work with twice the feed than current competitors. Another outstanding aspect: drilling with the ATC-version is completed in one shot, without multiple machining steps.
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