AlSiC aluminum composite

[chris m]

Good morning

 

I'm looking at a new job for a defense contractor that requires machining of a component manufactured from an aluminum matrix composite material called AlSiC-10, which, from the information I have sounds like a bag full of sand with some aluminum alloy mixed in. Do any of you guys have experience with this type of material? I don't know much about it yet other than the fact that it sounds like a real bitch to machine.

 

Thanks for any insight.

 

C

[TKDBB]

Sounds like some stuff I made pattern toolilng for some years ago. A mixture of aluminum and carbide. We prototyped track shoes for the M1A1 tank. Cast to size, no machining. Also made some large patterns for nat. gas pumps. Those were machined somewhere down south.

Good f-in luck Chris

[chris m]

That's the stuff, aluminum and silicon carbide....should be no problem

[Philcott]

Sounds like the stuff will eat cutters for breakfast.

 

Let us know what works if you get the job.

 

Phil

[dareman]

We've been machining a lot of high silicon aluminum and have found that the Zirconium Nitride coating works very well. I use Data Flute ALDH-C and ALDH series cutters. Good luck.

[chris m]

Dareman, what composition are you running? The one we're looking at is like 55% silicon carbide and the manufacturer doesn't want to machine it themselves; that can't be a good sign. I'm assuming that I'll need PCD or CBN to turn it and grind it, but I'm not really sure yet.

[chris m]

Come on boys, somebody has to be machining this stuff...

[TK-32™]

grind, turn and mill on conventional Machines. get the feel it and write down the speed and feeds. That's what we usually do here.

Good luck.

[dareman]

Sorry Chris, I missed your post earlier. I'll look it up for you

[rsbeadle]

I also have a similar project I have to start Tuesday. Check this out: ALUMINUM/BORON CARBIDE MATRIX. I have to go into a customers shop and get them started on a production type job cutting this stuff. I have no idea what is going to happen when a cutter hits this stuff. Anyone cutting anything similar to this stuff please chime in. Thanks.

[chris m]

All I'm getting for info is that PCD or natural diamond must be used for machining and that tapping is more or less impossible in the higher carbide percentage materials. The manufacturer of the material says that they can cast regions of pure aluminum or stainless into the part in the areas that must be tapped, so we may be looking at something like that. Currently we have proposed to our customer that we make the component from steel with some very aggressive weight-relieving, but they say that the [4] pounds or so per component may be worth the approximately $1000 each in additional cost to use this composite material. If we do end up using this stuff I will for sure publish any successful [or otherwise] cutting combinations.

 

C

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Sounds like you could use some Adamantium tooling. Barring that, I'd say laser or waterjet.

[TR Mfg.]

Could you EDM the threads in? Slow, but should be doable?

[chris m]

Waterjet is an option for creating the rough shape of the parts if the manufacturer cannot mold them somewhere near net shape, but I have some +.0005 features that obviously must be machined conventionally. I don't know about burning the threads but it is an option that I have rattling around the back of my head.

 

C

[chris m]

We just got a quote for the AlSiC stock for our little project...now I know why nobody uses this stuff; hopefully that'll be the end of the discussion of this material.

 

C

[rsbeadle]

I am back today from cutting the Aluminum/Boron Carbide parts. I only had to cut a profile on one end of an 18 inch long by .075 thick sheet. The customer had a SGS Z-carb he wanted me to try. It made about 4 inches into the part before the burr got so bad I had to stop it. The tool had a .075 groove in the side that looked like it was ground in. I went to an OSG Exocarb diamond coated tool and made about 4 parts before I got noticeable wear. I set up the program to move the tool down the flute length at .100 increments to get more tool life. Even doing that I expect maybe 25 parts per cutter at $190.00 a pop. My customer has to make 1000 parts. I recommended going to a PCD router tool made for cutting fiberglass and composite wood. This tool is $500 each, but should last much longer.

[chris m]

I telked to our sales honcho Friday night and it seems that this material may still be on the table despite its high cost due to the weight constraints required by the customer. Luckily for me there isn't much milling required for this thing, but the turning and the grinding may still be pretty interesting if we have to do it. I'll keep you posted.

 

C