Inconel 625

[dgriffiths]

Looking for some advise on cutting Inconel 625 with ceramic inserts (Turning and Milling). Can anybody point me to tooling they have had success running in this stuff. We have cut a bunch of Inco with Hanita Varimills but are looking to get these parts roughed out faster. ????

[robk]

Typically we run 625 and 718 just about identical with ceramics (milling and turning). For turning we have been using ceramics for quite a long time (we do tons of twin turret/pinch turning work) and we have some very good procedures that I really can't share 100%, but I will tell you that Kennametal's KY2100 grade as well as Sandvik's KC5010 are excellent. Running them both @ 650 SFM should give you excellent results. You will also do well with Greenleaf, but you will pay more per insert. Another advice is to use trochoidal turning. See picture below.

 

 

For milling it all depends on you max spindle RPM. Ours are 10K. It's a good combo of speed and torque. Most of the cutters are running @ the max machine RPM, with the exception of 2" which @ 4000 SFM is equal to around 7500 RPM. Non whisker ceramics by far work much better in milling then whisker. Sandvik recommends conventional milling when using ceramics. For inserts check out Sandvik's 6060 grade as well as NTK's T0220 grade and Kennametals KY1540 grade. Now the best advice I could give you is to contact Sandvik and request Heat Resistant Super Alloys Application Guide ( Ordering Code; C-2920:034) as well as Turnmilling Application Guide (Ordering Code C-2920:26). They have some great formulas and programming tips. When turmilling make sure to use the smallest lead on the cutter (.001) so you are cutting with the leading edge.

I also have some very useful Sandvik calculators. E-mail me if you are interested and I will send them your way.

 

 

[dgriffiths]

Rob,

 

Thank you. This is great info. We have machined one project recently out of 625 but they were pretty small parts. A lot of kellering and picking away at small radii with Hanita Varimill ball mills. This new project however allows for some more substantial tooling and we are looking to get rid of material faster. I will contact Sandvik and Kennametal and I already have NTK getting me some info. We will be running this job on a 40 taper Makino V55 with 14K spindle. My biggest hurdle right now is being confident with quoted cycle times because we have not ran Inco on this machine or done much with ceramic. I would love to take a look at the Sandvik calculators, I will shoot you an email.