The “golden partner” for efficient cutting—Hardened steel processing and CBN inserts

Hardened steel generally refers to steel parts with HRC>45 after heat treatment and quenching. Due to its high hardness, high strength and excellent wear resistance, it has become the preferred material for core components of automotive molds, bearings, and engineering machinery.

The four main aspects of the difficulty in hardened steel processing

First, they offer both high hardness and strength. When the hardness of hardened steel reaches HRC 50-60, the hardness of conventional carbide inserts (HRA 89-93) is insufficient, resulting in chipping or rapid blunting of the cutting edge during cutting.

Second, they experience high cutting forces and temperatures. During machining, the metal experiences significant resistance to deformation, and friction-induced temperatures can soar to 800-1200°C. Conventional cutting tools experience “thermal softening” at these high temperatures, losing their cutting ability.

Third, the cutting edge is prone to chipping and wear.

Fourth, they have low thermal conductivity. Cutting heat is difficult to dissipate, leading to rapid tool wear.

The core advantages of SCBN TOOLS CBN inserts

First, ultra-high hardness and wear resistance.

Second, excellent high-temperature stability.

Third, low friction and chemical inertness.

The hardness of CBN inserts is second only to diamond, and their service life is 5-10 times that of carbide inserts. They can withstand the high temperatures during hardened steel processing and can effectively reduce surface roughness while reducing cutting forces and machine tool loads.

SCBN TOOLS CBN inserts’ options

The SBH series is developed by SCBN TOOLS specifically for hardened steel parts. It can cut all hardened steels with a hardness of HRC45 or above, and is particularly effective when turning hardened steel after heat treatment instead of grinding.

For continuous and light interrupted hard turning of hardened steel, and the cutting depth of hardened steel is less than 0.3mm, SBH130 and SBH 560 tool grade can be selected. When heavy interrupted hard turning is to process hardened steel, we can choose SBH190 and SBH570.

Application Cases: Gear inner hole

The “hardness” of hardened steel and the “toughness” of CBN inserts form a perfect complement, which not only solves the efficiency bottleneck of high-hardness material processing, but also promotes the upgrading of mechanical manufacturing towards “cutting instead of grinding” and “high efficiency and precision”.