Application of the high-pressure abrasive waterjet technology for cutting edge preparation of solid carbide tools

Grinding the macroscopic shape of solid carbide tools results in an undefined cutting edge microgeometry and structural errors along the edge, such as burrs or chipping, which can decrease its stability and shorten tool life. To prevent this, a removal of defects along the cutting edge and a preparation of a process-optimized microgeometry can be machined using cutting edge preparation processes, such as brushing, grinding, or dry and wet abrasive jetting. Among these, jetting technologies show high potential in preparing complex microscopic cutting edge shapes. To enhance the efficiency of these technologies, an increase of the fluid pressure and a reduction of the jet diameter can be applied. The presented study investigates the application of the high-pressure abrasive waterjet technology with a jet diameter of 0.3 mm by using a water pressure of up to 300 MPa. This ensures a highly localized jetting of the cutting edge and enables new possibilities in the preparation of cutting edge microgeometries. Within this research, the influence of selected parameters, such as water pressure, jet exposure time, and standoff distance on the prepared cutting edge radius of two carbide grades was investigated. The results show that using this technology, radius values as small as 20 µm can be prepared.