Carbide is a very hard material made of compacted binary compounds of carbon and heavy metals, used to make tools that cut metal. Depending upon the composition of the metal used carbide can classified to boron carbide,calcium carbide, silicon carbide, tantalum carbide, tungsten carbide etc. Tungsten carbide(WC or W2C) and titanium carbide(TiC) are most widely used for making carbide cutting tools. Because of the extreme hardness of tungsten carbide makes it possible for metal working industry to use tungsten carbide as an alternative of diamond in manufacturing cutting tools, bearings and abrasives.
Carbide Cutting Tools
Carbide is extensively used in modern precision metal stamping and metal cutting industries. Metal stamping of titanium, silicon steel and other hard metals are often difficult to do with normal tool steels. We need tool material that can retain its cutting edges for longer period of time without re sharpening. Tungsten carbide and ceramic dies inserts serves this purpose. Carbide also gives us excellent dimensional stability which makes them suitable for precision metal stamping. Further more carbide is also used in manufacturing various parts of measuring equipment due to its high wear resistance.
In short carbide is a highly useful material in modern metal working industry.
As a result, the metal cutting industry makes use of carbide in manufacturing various cutting tools suitable for metal cutting operations like drilling, reaming, taping, turning, milling and for various hand tools. Let us see some of these carbide cutting tools in detail.
Carbide End Mills
Carbide Cutter Insert
Tungsten Carbide Cutters
Carbide Burrs
You can find more information by clicking the above links. Although we are mainly discussing about the carbide cutting tools, note that it is also used in numerous other industries. Some of these include manufacturing of surgical equipment, ammunition, and mining industry. It is also used for making the ball in your ball point pens, jewelry and watch bracelets.