Cemented Carbide and Tungsten Carbide Definition
Talking about tungsten carbide, it is a kind of hard alloy material belonging to the cemented carbide. Cemented carbide is made of hard compounds of an insoluble metal and binder metal by powder metallurgy process. It consists of hard carbide particles bonded together by a metallic binder cobalt (Co).
Actually cemented carbide use tungsten carbide (WC), Titanium carbide (TiC), Tantalum Carbide (Tac), and Niobium Carbide (NbC) as the aggregate. Tungsten carbide is the mostly used. So we commonly called cemented carbide the same as tungsten carbide.
The Tungsten carbide color is inclined to gray or black color, not like commonly stainless steel materials. So commonly stainless steel materials are commonly called “White Steel”; and Tungsten Carbide material is called “black steel” by the professions of mold and mold parts industry.
Tungsten Carbide Machining
The raw tungsten carbide materials need to do several kinds of mixed machining, then we can get the needed tungsten carbide components.
For the machining of tungsten carbide material, there are various kinds of CNC machining methods. For example, EDM tungsten carbide, PG grinding tungsten carbide, polishing tungsten carbide surface, turning tungsten carbide on a lathe, CNC machining tungsten carbide, oil cutting tungsten carbide, etc.
Tungsten Carbide Parts
Tungsten Carbide is mainly used to make high-speed cutting tools, cold stamping molds, measuring tools, and highly wear-resistant components. The Tungsten carbide punches are one of the most used mold parts.
There are also some other tungsten carbide parts, for example, tungsten carbide bushings, tungsten carbide sleeves, tungsten carbide ball bearings, tungsten carbide mechanical seal, tungsten carbide nozzles, tungsten carbide dies, tungsten carbide inserts and tungsten carbide wear parts & wear plates & wear strips, etc.
Tungsten Carbide Punches
Now Let’s talk about the tungsten carbide punches. The carbide punches are usually used in the cold stamping punching mold or called cold forming mold.
There are various kinds of carbide cutting punches. For example, carbide flat punches, carbide square punches, carbide rectangle punches, carbide hexagon punches, carbide offset punches, etc. These can be called standard punch parts.
Custom Precision Carbide Punches
And there are also some custom made carbide punches, or called special shape punches. These punches usually need more techniques and complex machining processes.
For example, PG Grinding for the Carbide Punches, according to the size of the punch, it can be enlarged by 20-50 times through the projector of PG. When it is projected on the display screen before grinding, the tolerance can be controlled to be within +/- 0.001mm.
And for the EDM tungsten carbide punches, with the high-tech wire-cutting, the Processing accuracy can be up to +/-2um, Min.line diameter 0.07mm, and the best clearance angle R0.06. And the surface roughness can reach Ra0.1mm.
Matched with the precision Surface Grinding Technology, the machining accuracy can be controlled within +/-1um.
With the complex machining technology combined together, we can machine the world’s highest precision micro punch parts. The micro tungsten carbide punches can be used in micro-electronics(connector terminals, mobile phones), automotive cars, the medical and aerospace industry, etc.
