IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- Manufacturing Readiness and Cost
Additively Manufacturing an Indexable Insert Impacts for PEM Stack and Balance of
Plant
Douglas Wheeler and Michael Ulsh
To cite this article: Jindich Sýkora and Luboš Kroft 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 1190
- Development of Decision Support System
012025 for Solving the Machine Selection Problem
in an Intermittent Manufacturing System
Design
P Buathong and A Vilasdaechanont

View the article online for updates and enhancements. - Cloud manufacturing - the connection
between RAMI 4.0 and IoT
E M Ciortea

This content was downloaded from IP address 198.240.113.141 on 21/10/2021 at 23:47

World Symposium on Mechanical-Materials Engineering & Science (WMMES 2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1190 (2021) 012025 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1190/1/012025

Additively Manufacturing an Indexable Insert

Jindřich Sýkora 1, Luboš Kroft 2

1
University of West Bohemia, i Družby 979/5, Plzeň, 31200, Czech Republic
2
Tymákov 387, 332 01 Tymákov, Czech Republic

sykora@rti.zcu.cz

Abstract. Considering the constant advances in additive manufacturing, it makes sense to use
this approach when creating a cutting tool. Currently, a lot of the tools used in machining are in
the form of indexable inserts. This minimizes the amount of material used and ensures a swift
change when a tool is worn out. Indexable inserts are currently made by pressing and sintering
which requires a large investment in specialized mould tooling for each insert shape.
This paper investigates an additive approach to making indexable insert blanks. This
manufacturing process does not require mould tooling and offers a large degree of freedom when
it comes to making inserts of diverse shapes. In this work, the process of manufacturing CCMT
inserts out of MS1 steel (X3NiCoMoTi 18-9-5) is investigated. MS1 is not an ideal material for
a cutting tool, however, the findings can be translated to blanks additively manufactured out of
tungsten carbide, cermets or ceramics.

1. Introduction
Additive manufacturing (AM) of metal parts is currently quite widely used in industrial applications.
Using AM makes a lot of sense for parts with very complex shapes or parts that require complex internal
cavities (e.g. injection moulds). The additive manufacturing process helps to minimize the material
removal by machining as well as the need for complex fixtures. Moreover, it provides a solution for
manufacturing otherwise impossible to make parts, for example internally cooled injection mould inserts
[1], [2].

However, even with the rapid advances in additive manufacturing in recent years, conventional
machining is still one of the most common methods used for part production. Therefore, the
development of novel cutting tools is critical for the advancement of manufacturing as a whole.
Arguably, one of the most important products in this industry is the indexable insert. It is the part of the
tool that is responsible for the cutting action and is easily replaceable in the production environment.
Tungsten carbide indexable inserts are the most common and they come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
There are several ISO standardized types, but many more unconventional ones are used in milling, for
example [3], [4].

The development of each of these unconventional inserts requires a mould in which the raw powder
is pressed to create a blank of the desired shape. This is a very costly and time-demanding process that
also limits geometrical freedom. In situations where the production volume of the inserts is not very
large or when complex geometries or internal cavities are required, an additive approach to
manufacturing could be more efficient. Prototyping a new indexable insert shape is one of the potential

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
World Symposium on Mechanical-Materials Engineering & Science (WMMES 2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1190 (2021) 012025 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1190/1/012025

applications. After heat treatment, the blank is in many cases finished by grinding, even when using
conventional manufacturing methods.

The idea of creating insert blanks additively has become increasingly relevant as new approaches to
additively manufacturing tungsten carbide are being developed and the properties of the parts are close
to those of conventionally manufactured tungsten carbide [5], [6].

Therefore, this paper investigates a method of producing indexable inserts by AM. Inserts of the
CCMT shape are used here because they are very common and can be easily tested using existing tool
holders. In this case, inserts are made out of hardened MS1 tool steel (X3NiCoMoTi 18-9-5), which is
not an ideal material for cutting tools. [7] The findings can, however, be utilised in the process of
additively manufacturing tools out of tungsten carbide, ceramics or even PCD to a large degree.
Alternatively, a tool steel insert can be used as a carrier for a carbide, CBN or PCD cutting edge. [8]

2. Additive manufacturing of insert blanks

Firstly, additive manufacturing of indexable insert blanks requires a CAD model – in most cases, an
STL format is needed. The design of the insert was inspired by the CCMT 120404 indexable insert sold
by Iscar ČR s.r.o. [9]. However, the flank faces, rake face, and the bottom face of the insert were offset
to allow for finish grinding. The screw hole of the insert was left at the nominal shape.

Secondly, the print data was prepared in the Materialise Magics software and the parts were
connected to the build platform using block and cone support structures (see Figure 1). Then, using EOS
Print, the parts were laid out on the building platform according to the recommendations of the machine
manufacturer.

Lastly, the build process is started. Most often the disadvantage of additive manufacturing is the
length of the build time and the cost of the raw material. In the case of the inserts, these disadvantages
are close to insignificant. A cutting insert (CCMT 1204 in this case) is usually a reasonably small part,
therefore, the build process is quite quick. The total build time when 3D printing 10 inserts is 106
minutes, resulting in less than 11 minutes per insert. The amount of raw powder needed for each insert
is 9 g including the support structures.

Figure 1. Indexable insert with support structure – Prepared in Materialise Magics

3. Preparation of blanks for finishing

After AM, the inserts need to be post-processed. The first step is heat treatment of the entire build
platform to reduce the stress induced by the build process and to harden the parts. Next, the parts are cut
off the build platform and the support structures are removed.

2
World Symposium on Mechanical-Materials Engineering & Science (WMMES 2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1190 (2021) 012025 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1190/1/012025

The rake face and bottom face is then finished using a surface grinder. The cutting insert we used
has a flank face angle of 7°. This needs to be taken into account while surface grinding. The amount of
the material ground off these faces needs to be such that the diameter of the inscribed circle on the
bottom face is 12.14 mm and the final height is 4.76 mm. This is important for the set up in the fixture
(see Figure 4) used for finishing the bolt hole. The remains of the additive manufacturing process is a
0.044 mm raised rim that appears on the topmost surface of the part (see Figure 2). This needs to be
taken into account when surface grinding to ensure the part's accuracy. The height of this feature was
measured on an Alicona IFM G4 microscope.

Figure 2. Scan of the raised outline of the part taken on Alicona IFM G4

The surface grinding of the blanks was done in the following way. All the parts were secured on a
magnetic chuck on the rake face and the remains of the support structures were ground flat. Secondly,
all the parts were flipped and the lip on the edge of the blank was ground down. Thirdly the parts were
flipped again and the bottom surface was ground to the final dimension. The thickness of the insert at
this stage was 5.06 mm. Lastly, parts were flipped on this freshly ground bottom face and the rake face
was ground bringing the insert to the final thickness of 4.76 mm.

The next step was finishing the bolt hole. The precision achieved by additive manufacturing is not
sufficient for this bore, because in this case, it determines the positional accuracy of the insert in the tool
holder. Therefore, the surface of this bore needs to be machined. For this procedure, a special tungsten
carbide taper mill was used. It has a 44° taper which matches the taper of the head of the precision bolt
used for securing the insert to the tool holder. A fixture is used to clamp the insert blanks (see Figure 4).
The bore finishing process consists of finding the centre of the existing bore with a workpiece contact
probe and milling out a tapered section (see Figure 3) on which the bolt head will rest.

Figure 3. Bolt hole finishing

3
World Symposium on Mechanical-Materials Engineering & Science (WMMES 2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1190 (2021) 012025 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1190/1/012025

Figure 4. Fixture for clamping the insert blank for the bolt hole finishing operation

4. Grinding the inserts

The last step of the process is grinding the blank to its final dimensions and shape. For this final
operation, which gives the insert its precise shape, a 5 axis Anca MX7 tool grinder is used. This grinder
is designed to hold round bars with h6 precision. This meant that a clamping fixture for the inserts had
to be designed and manufactured (see Figure 5). The fixture was produced to provide the highest
concentricity of the M5 thread and the clamping cylinder. The insert is held in place by the precision
bolt mentioned above. The tapered contact between the bolt and the insert together with the tolerances
of the fixture determine the final precision and repeatability of the insert position. The tolerance of the
insert position was smaller than 0.02 mm, measured on the Zoller Genius 3s.

Figure 5. Additively manufactured insert blank held in the grinding fixture

The 5 axis toolpath was created using NX CAM and machine movements were set up in such a way
that the tool stays at the top of the part, ensuring sufficient delivery of the cutting fluid. The grinding
parameters used for the inserts made out of MS1 steel are shown in Table 1.

This setup allows for the flank face as well as the rake face to be ground. This provides a large degree
of freedom and various shapes of inserts can be created. The final shape of the insert is dictated by the
manufacturing NC program, which can be changed quite easily. Therefore, it is a convenient finishing
procedure for prototyping. Various corner radiuses, flank angles or rake geometries can be easily
created.
Table 1. Cutting conditions of the 5 axis grinding process

Tool SiC – DIA PRAHA 100x10x20 C49 80 K 9 V

Cutting speed 25 m/s
Feed rate 50 mm/min
RDOC 0.1 mm
ADOC 4.76 mm

4
World Symposium on Mechanical-Materials Engineering & Science (WMMES 2021) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1190 (2021) 012025 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1190/1/012025

5. Conclusions
The use of additive manufacturing could make the process of manufacturing prototype or low volume
cutting inserts more efficient by reducing the need for mould tooling. Moreover, it makes the whole
process much more flexible. This study presents a usable methodology for creating an indexable insert
with the aid of additive manufacturing. It clearly shows the essentials of the whole process, starting with
the design requirements and ending with a functioning product. Due to the current equipment limitations
at our facility, only the process of manufacturing an insert made of MS1 steel was investigated. Although
further research needs to be done, the findings should translate by a large degree to manufacturing inserts
out of carbide, cermet or other suitable cutting materials. The steel inserts could also be equipped with
a brazed PCD or CBN cutting edge.

To conclude, this paper shows a clear framework for making an indexable insert using additive
manufacturing. However, more research needs to be done not only with more suitable cutting materials
but also in utilizing other advantages of AM, such as manufacturing internal cavities

Acknowledgment(s)
This article was created under the project SGS-2019-008: Research and Development for Innovation
in the Field of Manufacturing Technology - Machining Technology III.

References
[1] D. Herzog, V. Seyda, E. Wycisk, and C. Emmelmann, ‘Additive manufacturing of metals’, Acta
Mater., vol. 117, pp. 371–392, Sep. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.actamat.2016.07.019.
[2] G. Mendible, J. Rulander, and S. Johnston, ‘Comparative study of rapid and conventional tooling
for plastics injection moulding’, Rapid Prototyp. J., vol. 23, pp. 344–352, Mar. 2017, doi:
10.1108/RPJ-01-2016-0013.
[3] K. Bobzin, ‘High-performance coatings for cutting tools’, CIRP J. Manuf. Sci. Technol., vol. 18,
pp. 1–9, Aug. 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.cirpj.2016.11.004.
[4] S. L. Marias, ‘Round Tool Concepts: Indexable, Solid or Both’, Asia Pacific Metalworking
Equipment News | Manufacturing | Automation | Quality Control, 29-Jul-2019. [Online].
Available: https://www.equipment-news.com/round-tool-concepts-indexable-solid-or-both/.
[Accessed: 09-Nov-2020]
[5] D. Bricín and A. Kriz, ‘Processability of wc-co powder mixtures using slm additive technology’,
MM Sci. J., vol. 2019, pp. 2939–2945, Jun. 2019, doi: 10.17973/MMSJ.2019_06_2018115.
[6] T. Josef, S. Tim, B. Timo, M. Markus, S. Gerhard, and S. Dirk, ‘Laser sintering of tungsten
carbide cutter shafts with integrated cooling channels’, 2018, doi: 10.25341/D48G6C [Online].
Available: https://dr.ntu.edu.sg//handle/10356/88554. [Accessed: 09-Nov-2020]
[7] EOS GmbH, ‘EOS MaragingSteel MS1’. 29-Jan-2020 [Online]. Available:
https://www.eos.info/03_system-related-assets/material-related-contents/metal-materials-and-
examples/metal-material-datasheet/werkzeugstahl_ms1_cx/ms1/ms-ms1-
m280_m290_400w_material_data_sheet_05-14_en.pdf. [Accessed: 29-Jan-2020]
[8] G. Tadayyon, K. Seset, E. Parle, N. Murphy, and A. Ivankovic, ‘Additive Manufacturing of
Diamond Cutting Tools-Pushing the boundaries of 3D Printing’, presented at the Irish Polymers
and Materials Conference 2017, Dublin, Ireland, 2017, vol. 2017, doi:
10.13140/RG.2.2.18686.08009.
[9] ISCAR ČR s.r.o., ‘CCMT 120404-SM’. [Online]. Available:
https://www.iscar.com/eCatalog/item.aspx?cat=5566756&fnum=867&mapp=IS&app=20&GFS
TYP=M&isoD=1. [Accessed: 09-Nov-2020]