A revolutionary new end mill that “cuts” Cemented Carbide

Photo by Union Tool Co.

The new UDC patented Diamond Coating, developed by Union Tool, enables carbide end mills to physically “cut” shapes and features in to cemented carbide work material.

By combining optimized cutting geometry, with the UDC coating, users can apply direct milling strategies and so remove the need for grinding or using EDM techniques to form complex 3D shapes.  This new tooling development is viewed as being as significant as the introduction of direct hard milling in the mid-1990’s. This direct milling process allows for an unlimited possibility of types of features (especially microscale ones) to be milled that are not otherwise possible by grinding or by EDM techniques.

This highly efficient and durable coating, with a hardness of 100Gpa or 9,000 HV (this hardness is very similar to single crystal diamond), is able to resist wear and gives a class leading surface finish, enabling the end mill to produce finished parts without pits or burrs.  Also, without the need to make electrodes or form wheels for grinding the production time can be up to 80% quicker.

Offered in 3 series comprising a ball shape end mill, ball shaped with long reach and a square end with corner radius, that range from 0.20mm-6.0mm for the Ball types and 0.50mm to 2.00mm for the Square type design.

A cases study using a single Ø2.00mm ball end mill to both rough and finish a Ø9.00 star-shaped 3D feature in VF-20 Super Micro Grain carbide (92.5Hra) took just 39 minutes, which previously may have taken up to 4 hours.

For further information visit www.uniontool.com