Method for manufacturing cubic boron nitride cutting tool and cubic boron nitride cutting tool

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a cubic boron nitride cutting tool including a base metal and sintered cubic boron nitride compact at a corner portion of the base metal, capable of improving the accuracy of the center height and reducing the angle of inclination or width of a negative rake face; and the cubic boron nitride cutting tool. The method includes grinding the compact by pressing it against an end face of a grindstone of a grinder to form flank and rake faces on the compact while the base metal of the cutting tool is held by a chuck of the grinder, so that the compact is substantially ground. The rake face is formed to be recessed from a top face of the base metal or only a portion of the compact that protrudes from a base-metal rake face is ground while the tool is continuously held by the chuck.

Claims

1. A cubic boron nitride cutting tool comprising a cemented carbide base metal and a sintered cubic boron nitride compact at a corner portion of the cemented carbide base metal, the compact having a flank face and a rake face, wherein the flank face has grinding streaks, the rake face has grinding streaks that are arcuate and are approximately perpendicular to a bisector of a corner of the tool at which the sintered cubic boron nitride compact is disposed, when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the rake face, each grinding streak on the rake face is shaped as a portion of an imaginary circle having a center that does not overlap with the tool, wherein a ratio of a surface roughness of the flank face having the grinding streaks to a surface roughness of the rake face having the grinding streaks is almost one, the rake face is formed so as to be recessed from a top face of the base metal so that a step is formed between the rake face and the top face of the base metal, the rake face is flat except for the grinding streaks and is parallel with the top face, and the base metal has a chamfered portion formed from the top face toward the rake face, the chamfered portion extends across the bisection of the corner and is tilted against both the rake face and the top face.

2. The cubic boron nitride cutting tool according to claim 1, further comprising a negative rake face extending along a cutting edge formed by a ridge at which the flank face and the rake face meet and an angle of inclination of the negative rake face is 15 or smaller.

3. The cubic boron nitride cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the rake face has a roughness the same as a roughness of a grindstone having a fine grit of #600 or larger.

4. The cubic boron nitride cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein the step has a height of 0.1 mm or less.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an example of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool obtained by grinding with a method according to the invention.

(2) FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the appearance of the cubic boron nitride cutting tool of FIG. 1A after being ground.

(3) FIG. 2A is a perspective view of another example of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool obtained by grinding with a method according to the invention.

(4) FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the appearance of the cubic boron nitride cutting tool of FIG. 2A after being ground.

(5) FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main portion of an example of a grinder used to perform a method according to the invention.

(6) FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating the operation of a chuck of the grinder.

(7) FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating the operation of the chuck of the grinder.

(8) FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating grinding streaks on a flank face.

(9) FIG. 7 illustrates the state of the rake face that is being ground.

(10) FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the grinding streaks on the rake face.

(11) FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating the state of the rake face that is being ground.

(12) FIG. 10 is an enlarged side view of a step over the rake face.

(13) FIG. 11 is an enlarged side view of the negative rake face of the edge portion.

(14) FIG. 12 is a side view illustrating the center height.

(15) FIG. 13 shows an arcuate grinding streak on the rake face.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(16) Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a cubic boron nitride cutting tool according to the invention is described below.

(17) FIGS. 1A and 2A illustrate examples of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool that is to be ground. A cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 of FIG. 1A is a rhombic cutting insert obtained by joining a small piece of a sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 onto a top face 2a of a base metal 2, made of a cemented carbide base metal, at an acute corner portion of the top face 2a. Other examples of such a rhombic cutting insert include a rhombic cutting insert obtained by disposing small pieces of sintered cubic boron nitride compacts 3 at two diagonally opposite acute corners.

(18) A cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 of FIG. 21 is a triangular cutting insert obtained by joining small pieces of sintered cubic boron nitride compacts 3 onto a top face 2a of a base metal 2, made of a cemented carbide base metal, at corner portions of the top face 2a. Other examples processible by the method according to the invention include a cutting insert that includes a sintered cubic boron nitride compact at only one corner, a cutting insert shaped differently from those illustrated (a rhombic having different corner angles or a polygonal having four or more corners), and a negative cutting insert obtained by joining sintered cubic boron nitride compacts onto the top and bottom surfaces of the base metal at corner portions of the top and bottom surfaces.

(19) Each sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 has a joint surface 3a that is perpendicular to the bisector CL of a corner at which the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 of the cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 is disposed. The joint surface 3a receives the cutting thrust force.

(20) The sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 and the base metal 2 of the cemented carbide may be any object usable for a cutting tool and the amount of cubic boron nitride or tungsten contained in the object is not particularly limited.

(21) The following description is given taking the cubic boron nitride cutting tool to rhombic cutting insert) of FIG. 1A as an example.

(22) In this invention, grinding is performed using a numerically controlled (NC) grinder. The grinder that is used in grinding includes a chuck 11 as illustrated in FIG. 3 and whose position and orientation are numerically controlled and a grindstone 12 that rotates at a fixed position.

(23) The delivery of a workpiece (cubic boron nitride cutting tool) to the grinder and the delivery of a workpiece to the chuck 11 are performed using a robot hand (not illustrated) whose position is controlled.

(24) Here, the illustrated grindstone 12 is a cup grindstone but grinding using a disc-shaped grindstone is also possible. For the grindstone 12, a grindstone having a fine grit of #600 or larger is suitable.

(25) A grinder used for evaluation of the method of this invention has a function of quadruple-axis control as illustrated m FIGS. 4 and 5, that is, the grinder has various functions (although not movable in the Z-axis direction) of moving the chuck in the X-axis and Y-axis directions, rotating the chuck 11 around the axis O, and rotating the chuck 11 in the b-axis direction illustrated in FIG. 5. Grinding was successfully performed by the manufacturing method of the invention using the grinder having a quadruple-axis control function.

(26) The chuck 11 includes a pair of opposing plug gauges 11a, which are replaceable with those having different sizes. Using plug gauges appropriate for the model number of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool that is to be processed, the chuck 11 tightly holds a cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1, which has been delivered to a fixed position by a robot hand, in the direction of the thickness of the base metal 2 of the tool.

(27) By controlling the position and orientation of the chuck 11, a flank face 5 and a rake face 4 are formed on a sintered cubic boron nitride compact joined at a corner of the base metal 2 by grinding the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 while the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 is pressed against the end surface of a rotating grindstone 12.

(28) As to the order of grinding, the flank face 5 is firstly formed by grinding and then the rake face 4 is formed by grinding. This order is preferable because it is more effective for avoiding chipping at a ridge portion formed at a position between the rake face and the flank face than in the case where the rake face is formed by grinding, and the flank face is formed by grinding in this order.

(29) During grinding to form the flank face 5, a portion of the surface that is being processed with which the grindstone comes into contact gradually changes. On the other hand, during grinding to form the rake face 4, the end surface of the grindstone comes into contact with the entire ground area so as to be parallel to the area. This operation is considered to be effective for avoiding chipping.

(30) As illustrated in FIG. 4, in the grinding to form the flank face 5, the portion that is processed is gradually changed by rotating the chuck 11 around the axis O while the flank face 5 of the cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 held by the chuck 11 is pressed against the end surface of the grindstone 12.

(31) Consequently, grinding streaks 7 (see FIG. 6) perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness are formed on the flank face 5. Here, the grinding streaks perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness include, not only the grinding streaks that are perfectly perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness, but also grinding streaks that extend in a direction that is more or less inclined with respect to the line perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness within the range not impairing the economic efficiency or the workability.

(32) The reason why the grinding streaks formed on the flank face and the rake face are perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness is the cost saving for mass production. The grinding streaks may be formed so as to be inclined with respect to the line perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness within the range within which the effects of the operation can be obtained.

(33) Here, if the flank face 5 of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 is flush with a side surface 2b of the base metal 2, the side surface of the base metal 2 is simultaneously ground. However, since the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 does not have a large thickness, this grinding does not cause significant edge dullness on the flank face. In the case where the flank face 5 protrudes from the side surface 2b of the base metal 2, only the flank face 5 is formed by grinding in this step.

(34) Subsequently, the rake face 4 is formed by grinding. The grinding is performed without changing the chuck 11 that holds the cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 to another chuck. The chuck 11 holding, the cubic boron nitride cutting tool 1 is rotated in the b-axis direction of FIG. 5 and the rake face of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 is pressed against the end surface of the grindstone 12 so as to be parallel to the end surface, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

(35) Here, when the cutting tool is pressed against the grindstone 12 in such a manner that only the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 is ground, simultaneous grinding of two materials having different hardness is not performed. In addition, the area that is ground is reduced and thus the surface of the grindstone that is appropriately dressed and that has excellent sharpness can be used. In addition, the finished tool has an excellent appearance. In the case where the top face of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 protrudes from the top face of the base metal 2 (base-metal rake face), it is easy to grind only the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3.

(36) However, as long as the area over which the compact and the base metal are ground simultaneously is within the range that is not adversely affected by the simultaneous grinding, part of the base metal may be ground simultaneously with the sintered cubic boron nitride compact to form the rake face. In the situation where the edge of the grinding surface cuts into the base metal 2 by, for example, approximately 2 mm, grinding the base metal and the compact simultaneously does not cause any harm, whereby the flatness of the rake face is not impaired.

(37) As illustrated in FIG. 8, the rake face 4 is formed by grinding in such a manner as to form grinding streaks 8 that are approximately perpendicular to the bisector CL of the corner of the tool at which the sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3 is disposed.

(38) When the rake face is pressed against the end surface of the rotating grindstone, the grinding streaks formed on the rake face are arcuate, not straight, in the strict sense. Thus, the grinding streaks 8 here are expressed as being grinding streaks that are approximately perpendicular to the bisector CL of the corner.

(39) As illustrated in FIG. 9, when the compact is ground while being in such a position that the bisector CL of the corner is aligned with an imaginary straight line extending radially from the rotation center of the grindstone 12, the grinding streaks 8 shaped in arc having the center at the rotation center of the grindstone 12 are formed on the rake face. Thus, when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the rake face 4, each grinding streak 8 is shaped as a portion of an imaginary circle 900 corresponding to the circle of the grindstone 12 in FIG. 9. See FIG. 13. The center 910 of the imaginary circle corresponds to the center of the grindstone 12, is away from the corner 80 of the cutting tool 1 in plan view, and does not overlap with the cutting tool 1. See FIG. 9.

(40) Grindstones having the radius within the range of approximately 50 mm to 300 mm have been widely used as examples of the grindstone 12. In the case where a grindstone having a radius of 300 mm is used, the grinding streaks 8 have an R radius of approximately 300 mm. Since the cubic boron nitride cutting tool is not so large, the grinding streaks 8 appear to be streaks that are approximately straight lines.

(41) In the case where the flank face 5 and the rake face 4 are formed by grinding using the end surface of the same grindstone, the ratio of the surface roughness of the flank face 5 to the surface roughness of the rake face 4 is almost one.

(42) In the case where the base-metal top face (base-metal rake face) and the top face of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact are flush with each other before being ground, the rake face 4 is recessed from the top face 2a of the base metal (in the case of a negative cutting tool in which the top and bottom faces have the same structure, the bottom face is also regarded as a top face) so that a step h having a height of preferably 0.1 mm or smaller is formed between the top face 2a of the base metal and the rake face 4, as illustrated in FIG. 10.

(43) When the step h is formed, an edge e indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 10 is formed at the border between the ground surface of the base metal 2 and the compact. Since the edge e is useless, the edge e is preferably removed by forming a chamfered portion 9 (see FIG. 10). The chamfered portion 9 can be formed subsequently to the grinding to form the rake face 4 by rotating the chuck 11 in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 7 (clockwise in FIG. 7) from the position in FIG. 7.

(44) The invention is also applicable to the case where a tool obtained by soldering a cubic boron nitride blank to a ground top face of the base metal (the case where the rake face of the base metal and the cubic boron nitride blank are not flush with each other) are to be ground. In the case where the top face of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact protrudes from the top face of the base metal before being ground, only the protruding portion of the sintered cubic boron nitride compact has to be ground.

(45) In the case where the flank face 5 and the rake face 4 are formed by grinding using the end face of the same grindstone, the ratio of the surface roughness of the flank face 5 to the surface roughness of the rake face 4 is approximately one.

(46) In the case where the cutting edge needs to have a negative rake face, a negative rake face 10 (see FIG. 11) is formed, after the flank face 5 and the rake face 4 are formed by grinding, along the cutting edge 6 formed by a ridge at which the flank face 5 and the rake face 4 meet. The axis O of the chuck 11 is inclined as illustrated by the dotted lines of FIG. 5. At this state, a portion at which the negative rake face is formed is brought into contact with the end face of the grindstone 12 and the chuck 11 is moved so that the contact point is moved in the longitudinal direction of the cutting edge. Thus, the negative rake face 10 can be formed.

(47) In this invention, the above-described grinding is performed using a so-called single chuck while the chuck 11 keeps holding the tool.

(48) This operation prevents positional displacement of the tool that would otherwise occur due to changing the chuck that holds the tool to another. In addition, by grinding to form the rake face without the base metal being ground simultaneously, the rake face is prevented from being edge-dulled, whereby the accuracy of the center height H (see FIG. 12, which is the height from the bottom surface at which the tool is supported to the processed point) can be improved to a large extent.

(49) Preventing the rake face from being edge-dulled enables reduction of the angle of inclination and the nominal width W (see FIG. 11) of the negative rake face 10 compared to those in the existing tool (enables optimization of the site of the negative rake face of a finishing tool or the like). Consequently, the nominal width W varies to a smaller extent, whereby the accuracy of the center height or the sharpness can be further improved.

(50) In an experimental tool for a mass-produced product formed by performing grinding using a cup grindstone of #1400, the tolerance of the center height H successively fell within 10 m, the angle of inclination of the negative rake face successively fell within 15, the tolerance of the nominal width successively fell within 10 m when the nominal width W of the negative rake face was 0.1 mm (100 m). Moreover, processing the negative rake face having an angle of inclination of 5, which had been impracticable, was successively performed. Here, the flank face had grinding streaks perpendicular to the direction of the tool thickness, the rake face had grinding streaks approximately perpendicular to the bisector of the corner of the tool at which the sintered cubic boron nitride compact is disposed, and the rake face was formed so as to be recessed from the top face of the base metal so that a step is formed between the rake face and the top face of the base metal.

(51) As described above, the method described above enables manufacture of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool having a highly accurate center height. This eliminates the need for tentative grinding for adjustment of the center height when a mass-produced tool is used, which is highly beneficial to users of the tool. Although the method illustrated as an example is a method for easily manufacturing a tool using typical equipment for grinding the periphery, the processing method is not limited to this as long as the method has the same operational effects.

(52) The description has been given taking grinding to form the flank face and the rake face in this order as an example. However, even in the case where the rake face is formed by grinding first and then the flank face is formed by grinding, the accuracy of the center height and the accuracy of the negative rake face are improved compared to those in the case of an existing tool, since it is effective to perform grinding using a single chuck and to perform grinding to form the rake face in such a manner that a sintered cubic boron nitride compact is substantially ground.

(53) The invention is also applicable to the case where a tool obtained by soldering a cubic boron nitride blank to a ground top face of the base metal (where the base-metal rake face and the cubic boron nitride blank are not flush with each other) are to be ground.

(54) The structure of the disclosed embodiment of the invention is a mere example and the scope of the invention is not limited to the range described in the embodiment. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of Claims and also includes the equivalent of the scope of Claims and all the modifications within the scope.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(55) 1 cubic boron nitride cutting tool 2 base metal 2a top face 2b side surface 3 sintered cubic boron nitride compact 3a joint surface 4 rake face 5 flank face 6 cutting edge 7 grinding streak on flank face 8 grinding streak on rake face 9 chamfered portion 10 negative rake face 11 chuck 11a plug gauge 12 grindstone CL bisector of corner of cubic boron nitride cutting tool at which sintered cubic boron nitride compact is disposed O axis of chuck b direction of rotation of chuck h step between base-metal top face and rake face e edge angle of inclination of negative rake face W nominal width of negative rake face H center height