Cutting Tool Lubrication Holes Formed by Polymer Insert Overmolding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cutting tools with lubrication holes are complex, expensive, and limited to machining materials with hardness below a certain threshold due to the hardness of high-strength steels, restricting their use to grinding applications and simple shapes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a polymer insert with complex shapes, overmolding, insert removal, sintering, and machining to create cutting tools with complex-shaped lubrication holes, allowing machining of harder materials like ceramics and hard metals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If traditional machining methods are used to create lubrication holes in high-strength steel cutting tools, then the tool body structure is simple, but the lubrication holes are limited to simple shapes and the production cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a polymer insert with the desired complex lubrication hole geometry before the final tool manufacturing. This preliminary action allows the complex shape to be formed easily in the polymer, which is then embedded in the cutting tool body during overmolding, avoiding the need to machine complex shapes in hard steel.
Solution Approach 2:
The polymer insert acts as an intermediary element that carries the complex lubrication hole geometry. Instead of directly machining the hard steel tool body, the complex geometry is first created in the soft polymer insert, which serves as a template during the overmolding process.
2Strength
If cutting tools are made from high-strength steels, then the tool body has high strength, but the hardness limits machining of lubrication holes to simple shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the tool manufacturing into two distinct parts: the structural cutting tool body made of high-strength steel, and the geometric template provided by the polymer insert. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the steel body for strength and the polymer insert for geometric complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The final cutting tool becomes a composite structure combining high-strength steel body with embedded polymer insert. The polymer insert provides the complex lubrication hole geometry while the steel body provides the required mechanical strength, creating a composite tool with properties of both materials.
3Reliability
If complex-shaped lubrication holes are machined in hard materials, then lubrication performance is optimized, but the machining process becomes too complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of directly machining complex shapes in hard material, the invention creates a copy of the desired geometry in the polymer insert first. This copy is then transferred to the final tool through the overmolding process, where the polymer insert serves as a negative template that defines the lubrication hole geometry in the hardened steel body.
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
Enables machining of hard materials such as ceramics and hard metals with optimized lubrication and cooling, expanding the tools' applicability beyond grinding to milling operations.
Implementation Method 1
the insert removal step 320 is carried out by introducing the insert into a bath
Implementation Method 2
sintering 330 of the cutting tool body 10
Implementation Method 3
deposition of an abrasive coating 350 on a surface of the active part of the body of the cutting tool
Data Source
Figure 1~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a cutting tool (10) with complex-shaped lubrication orifices, comprising the steps of: - making 320 a polymer insert (20), - overmolding 310 a body of the cutting tool (10) with the polymer insert (20) by injection into a mold, - removing 320 the polymer insert (20), so as to form within the body of the cutting tool (10) lubrication orifices whose shape is complementary to that of a part of the insert (20), - machining 340 the body of the cutting tool (10) on at least one part called the "active part", - deposition of an abrasive coating 350 on a surface of the active part of the body of the cutting tool (10).