DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF ZIRCONIA-TOUGHENED ALUMINA CERAMIC TOOLS

Modern ceramic tools with their remarkable improvements in properties and versatile performance are gradually replacing carbide and coated carbide tools, particularly in the area of machining carbon steel, cast iron and heat-resistant alloy. Ceramic tools will be of more interest to the manufacturers and users of the countries such as India where there is scarcity of tungsten and cobalt. However, the ceramic tools need to be tough and versatile to suit the wide range of power and rigidity of the machine tools. The present authors have tried to develop some tough ceramic inserts mainly based on alumina and zirconia which are readily available in India. Characterization and performance of these tools in machining low and medium carbon steels have been studied. Some of the tools with suitable geometries have been successful in machining at speeds up to 450 m min-1.