NEWS & PR

New Drill with Two Grades of Carbide in One Tool

01 May 2007

4x Tool Life - 2x Production Speed - 50% Less Cost Per Hole - It’s not just revolutionary, it’s HardCore.

ATI Stellram is positioned to change the way the metal cutting industry thinks, with a brand new patented technology that combines two grades of carbide into one tool.

ATI Stellram’s new HardCore™ Technology allows the tool to be designed so that an optimum carbide grade is used at critical points, enhancing performance and improving tool life.

“This tool changes the economics of drilling,” says Dave Watson, Vice President of ATI Stellram. “HardCore Technology offers advantages that just weren’t there before. It lets companies look at machining in an entirely different way, that can result in dramatic economic benefits.”

Werner Mueller, Global Product Manager Drilling, comments, “What we’ve seen with this technology is that tools will cut faster, last longer, and produce better quality holes. In fact, our testing shows consistently that a HardCore Technology drill will last four times longer than other ‘high performance’ drills currently available in the marketplace.”

Why It Works
On the tip of a drill bit the outer edges are running at high surface speed, while the point is basically stationary. The carbide grade chosen has to compensate for this which results in a trade out - performance for durability. In the past, this has meant that the drill point is prone to chipping, which is a critical factor in performance and tool life.

Imagine what happens when you can use two grades of carbide - one tailored for wear resistance to match the high speed of the tool’s outer diameter, and another designed to be resilient enough to handle the slow speed of the tool centre. The need for compromise has been eliminated and perfomance has been dramatically improved.

Testing shows that the new composite technology greatly reduces wear because the carbide grade is optimised for the different portions of the tool. Operating speeds can be increased by a factor of 2 times.

“You have a tool that will last longer, run faster and require less maintenance,” adds Mueller. “This can be a major advantage for companies needing to boost productivity and reduce costs. When you can tailor a tool’s performance like this, there are almost endless possibilities for the application of this technology.”