Composite Rod Preparation Using Laser-Scored Cermet Chunks
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for producing composite rods with cermet chunks result in significant wastage due to the crushing and sieving of cermet sheets, which is costly and inefficient, especially when using recycled materials like tungsten carbide, as most of the material is crushed into small flakes that cannot be used.
Innovation Solution
A method involving scoring a cermet sheet with a laser to create localized stress, allowing it to break into chunks with minimal external force, followed by combining these chunks with a braze material to form a composite rod, reducing wastage and enabling the use of recycled materials effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If mechanical crushers are used to crush cermet sheets into chunks, then cermet chunks can be obtained for composite rod production, but about 70% wastage occurs because much material is crushed to small flakes that cannot be used
Solution Approach 1:
The cermet sheet is pre-scored with laser beams to create localized stress lines before crushing. This preliminary action creates predetermined break lines that guide the fragmentation process, ensuring chunks break at intended locations rather than being randomly crushed into unusable small flakes, thereby reducing material wastage from 70% to minimal levels
Solution Approach 2:
The laser scoring creates localized zones of altered material properties along specific lines on the cermet sheet surface. These scored lines have different mechanical properties (reduced strength, increased brittleness) compared to the bulk material, creating preferential paths for crack propagation during subsequent crushing, thus enabling controlled fragmentation into usable chunks
2Ease of manufacture
If preshaped tetrahedral chunks of tungsten carbide are used in composite rods, then the rods can be produced, but the requirement for preshaped chunks makes production relatively expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The laser scoring process pre-defines the break lines and chunk geometry before crushing occurs. By controlling the pattern, depth, and spacing of scored lines, the method predicts and controls the final chunk shapes and sizes, eliminating the need for expensive preshaping processes while maintaining consistent geometry suitable for composite rod production
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional mechanical preshaping or manual shaping processes are replaced by laser scoring followed by controlled crushing. The laser creates precise stress lines that guide fragmentation, substituting high-precision mechanical forming with a combination of thermal field (laser) and controlled mechanical breakdown, thereby reducing production costs while achieving adequate shape control
3Force
If cermet sheets are scored with laser beams to create localized stress, then the sheets can be caused to break along predetermined lines with minimal external force, but additional processing steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The laser scoring process changes the physical parameters (stress distribution, material density, brittleness) along specific lines on the cermet sheet. This parameter modification creates zones of localized weakness that require minimal external force to propagate cracks through the material, reducing the breaking force requirement from high levels to minimal external force while adding only a single laser scoring step
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for the production of cermet chunks of predetermined sizes and shapes with minimal wastage, enabling the creation of cost-effective composite rods with excellent wear and abrasion properties using recycled materials.
Implementation Method 1
scoring a surface of the cermet sheet to produce at least one line of localised stress
Implementation Method 2
causing the sheet to break along the line of localised stress, thereby to produce a plurality of cermet chunks
Implementation Method 3
heated above the melting temperature of the braze material (e.g. using an oxyacetylene torch), so that the braze material and cermet chunks flow onto the surface before the braze material re-solidifies
Implementation Method 4
a braze material that wets both the hard material and the surface to be hardfaced, thereby attaching the hard material to the surface
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method of producing a composite rod from a braze material and a sheet of material comprising cermet. The method comprises scoring a surface of the sheet to produce at least one line of localised stress and subsequently causing the sheet to break along the line of localised stress, thereby to produce a plurality of cermet chunks. The cermet chunks can be combined with the braze material to produce the composite rod. In a particular embodiment, the sheet of material may be a used cermet cutting tip.