Cemented carbide tools are subjected to high loads and temperatures during use. Long before any significant wear can occur on the tool, the material will experience plastic deformation. The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate how Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) can be utilised to analyse plastic deformation within the microstructure or grains of cemented carbides. Six different cemented carbides were investigated. The materials were plastically deformed by utilizing cutting tests with a feed rate staircase method to induce the plastic deformation. Each material was characterised by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) either equipped with a secondary electron detector or an Electron Backscatter Diffraction detector (EBSD). This made it possible to investigate the WC grain size, Co infiltration, step formation, cavities and pores, KAM and the average grain size. It was concluded that KAM showed to be a valuable tool to visualise the plastic deformation in the materials. There were some limitations to KAM regarding materials with similar amounts of plastic deformation. Additionally, the data from KAM could be used to create graphs to more easily display the misorientation. However, KAM cannot showcase the mechanisms that lead to plastic deformation. Other characterisation methods are needed as a compliment to completely understand what is happening in the material on a microstructural level.

This master‘s thesis is presenting the way of the optimization of grinding characteristics when grinding cemented carbides by diamond wheels. There is described the theory of grinding, including grinding wheels and basic characteristics of cemented carbides in the theoretical part. There are defined experimental metering accomplished on the CNC grinding machine Walter Helitronic Power Mini in the practical part. There were tested eight grinding wheels. The grinding rate, surface roughness Ra, theoretic guaranteed storage period of grinding wheel in number of cuts, theoretical capacity of machined material, achievement of grinding machine and behaviour of the wheels when grinding ware evaluated from the reached results.

This diploma thesis is involved in possible development of different types of milling molds coated with modern plows. The first part is devoted to an analysis of contemporary trends in forms production technology. The analysis includes the different types of machines and tools for making various kinds of molds and dies. Another part deals with design of dies for sheet metal shears. The thesis continues by design of the production procedure after heat treatment and finishing die by miling. For milling of die are designed miling tools, the NC program and the possible development of manufacturing the die using a new machining center and the possibility of production optimization. The penultimate point of the thesis is technical and economical evaluation of the direction of development and comparison of positives and negatoves of each method. At the final evaluation is all summed up.

Replacement of cobalt in cemented carbides has gained in attention recently because threats of regulations due to health issues (cancerogenic effect), increased demand from the electric vehicle industry and the questionable extraction from countries like Democratic Republic of Congo. In this report the use of Ni-based binder as an alternative binder for cemented carbides has been explored. The design is based on producing a Ni-based superalloy binder which contains dispersed Ni3Al Gamma Prime (γ’) -phase precipitates in the binder matrix. The investigation focuses on the design of cemented carbide compositions and processes that ensures the formation of γ’- precipitates, the control of their morphology and distribution as well as the effect of heat treatment. To do this a Ni-Al master alloy has been designed that enables the formation of γ’-precipitates in WC-Ni-Al-X systems, produced by conventional powder metallurgy process including standard free sintering. Furthermore, the addition of usual elements in the cemented carbide industry (such as Ti, Cr, Ta, Nb) and their effect on the stability of γ’-precipitates has been investigated. A method to reveal the precipitates including ion-polishing and electro-etching has been developed. Basic mechanical properties such as hardness and toughness have been investigated, revealing particular crack propagation in Ni-based binder reinforced with γ’-precipitates. It was found that the common variables in cemented carbide manufacturing influence all aspects regarding the stability of γ’-phase. By varying the powder type, binder composition and content, the carbon balance, the WC grain size and the heating/cooling steps; the formation of γ’-precipitates (size, morphology, distribution, etc.) can be controlled to tailor the properties of the cemented carbide. / Att hitta en ersättning av kobolt i hårdmetall har nyligen uppmärksammats bl.a. eftersom regleringar hotar användning av ämnet pga. dess cancerogenitet, en ökande efterfrågan från elfordonsindustrin samt den moraliskt tvivelaktiga utvinningen som sker i länder som Demokratiska Republiken Kongo. I denna rapport har användningen av ett nickel-baserat bindemedel som ett alternativt bindemedel för hårdmetaller undersökts. Designen är baserad på att producera en nickel-baserad superlegering som bindemedel som innehåller dispergerad Ni3Al Gamma Prim (γ’) – fas utfälld i bindemedlet. Utredningen fokuserar på designen av hårdmetallskompositioner och processer som försäkrar formationen av γ’-utfällningar, kontroller av dess morfologi, distributionen samt hur värmebehandlingar påverkar. För att kunna göra detta har en Ni-Al masterlegering skapats som möjliggör γ’-utfällningar i ett WC-Ni-Al-X system, producerat med konventionell pulvermetallurgiprocess inkluderat standard fri sintring. Dessutom har tillsatsen av vanliga ämnen i hårdmetallindustrin (such as TI, Cr, Ta, Nb) samt deras effekt på stabiliteten hos γ’-utfällningarna undersökts. En metod för att upptäcka utfällningarna, som inkluderar jonpolering och elektroetsning har utvecklats. Grundläggande mekaniska egenskaper som hårdhet och seghet har undersökts, vilket har avslöjat en speciell sprickutbredning i den nickelbaserade bindaren förstärkt med γ’-utfällningar. Det visade sig att de vanliga variablerna förenade med tillverkning av hårdmetall påverkar samtliga aspekter gällande stabiliteten hos γ’-utfällningar. Genom att variera pulvertyp, bindemedelkomposition och innehåll, kolbalansen, WC-kornstorlek och uppvärmning samt kylningssteg så påverkas bildningen av γ’-utfällningar (storlek, morfologi, distribution, etc..) som kan kontrolleras för att skräddarsy egenskaperna för hårdmetallen.

Application of clean and ultraclean steels have shown to provide favourable mechanical properties for bearings and transmission components, specifically regarding fatigue performance, compared to conventional steel grades. Clean steels are characterized by containing a very low level of non-metallic inclusions. While this characteristic is beneficial for the fatigue strength, inclusions in steels have shown to be favorable for the machinability and therefore challenges during machining of clean steels can arise. In this thesis the machinability and tool wear mechanisms of ultraclean steel have been evaluated during longitudinal turning. The aim of the study was to determine how steel cleanness and inclusions impact different machinability aspects. This was achieved by performing a comparative study of three steel grades with different level of cleanness and inclusions characteristics. Four machining experiments were executed investigating the chip breakability, cutting force, tool life and cutting tool coating degradation. The machined inserts were then analysed using light optical microscopy, secondary electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis. The result revealed that the ultraclean steel grade has the overall worst machinability with the lowest chip breakability, highest cutting forces, and lowest tool life for the investigated steels. Additionally, it was found that the inserts that machined the ultraclean steel and the calcium treated steel was exposed to severe crater wear. However, the coating degradation causing the crater wear differs between the two grades. For the ultraclean steel the wear rate of the entire chemical vapor deposition coating is high. In contrast, for the calcium treated steel only the top alumina layer degrades rapidly and the underlying titanium carbonitride layer have a low wear rate. / Användning av rena och ultrarena stål har visat sig ge gynnsamma mekaniska egenskaper för kullager och transmissionskomponenter, speciellt gällande utmattningsprestanda, jämfört med konventionella stålsorter. Rena stål kännetecknas av att de innehåller en mycket låg nivå av icke-metalliska inneslutningar. Denna egenskap är fördelaktig för utmattningshållfastheten, men däremot har inneslutningar i stål visat sig vara gynnsamma för bearbetbarheten och därför kan utmaningar uppstå vid bearbetning av rena stål. I detta arbete har bearbetbarheten och verktygsslitagemekanismerna för ultrarent stål utvärderats under längsgående svarvning. Syftet med studien var att fastställa hur stålets renhet och inneslutningar påverkar olika bearbetningsaspekter. Detta uppnåddes genom att utföra en jämförande studie av tre stålsorter med olika renhetsgrad samt inneslutningar. Fyra bearbetningsexperiment utfördes för att undersöka spånbrytbarheten, skärkraften, verktygets livslängd och nerbrytningen av skärverktygets beläggning. De bearbetade skären analyserades sedan med användning av ljusoptisk mikroskopi, svepelektronmikroskopi och elektronprobmikroanalys. Resultatet visade att den ultrarena stålsorten har den totalt sett sämsta bearbetbarheten med lägst spånbrytbarhet, högsta skärkrafter och lägsta verktygslivslängd av de undersökta stålen. Dessutom upptäcktes att skären som bearbetade det ultrarena stålet och det kalciumbehandlade stålet utsattes för kraftigt kraterslitage. Nedbrytningen av verktygs beläggningen som orsakar kraternötningen skiljer sig dock mellan de två stålkvaliteterna. För det ultrarena stålet är slitagehastigheten för hela beläggningen hög. För det kalciumbehandlade stålet bryts däremot endast det övre aluminiumoxidskiktet ned snabbt och det underliggande titankarbonitridskiktet har en låg nötningshastighet.