Development History of Ceramic Knives:
Ceramic knife with the development of new technological revolution, it is required to continuously improve cutting productivity and reduce production cost. Especially the development of CNC machine tools, the requirements for the development of higher cutting speed than carbide tools, more wear-resistant tool. Recently, a variety of high-strength, high hardness, corrosion resistance, wear-resistant and high temperature of the difficult to cut the new materials are increasing.
According to the literature estimates, this kind of material has accounted for more than 50% of the international processing total., the cemented carbide tool has not been competent for the processing of many new materials. On the other hand, now international cemented carbide production has reached 000-25 T. Consumes a large amount of metal every year, such as W, Co, Ta and NB. The mineral resources of these metals are decreasing and the price is increasing, which is not used for decades. Some resources will be depleted.
The ceramic tool is developed in this context. As early as 1912-1913. Alumina ceramic cutters have appeared in Britain and Germany, but their application in production began in 1950. Due to its low strength and toughness, it is limited to continuous cutting finishing for a long period of time, and the cutting speed and feed rate are lower.
It wasn’t until 1968. The 2nd generation Ceramic Tool-composite alumina tool, in strength and toughness than the alumina tool has improved significantly, can be at a higher speed and larger feed under the cutting of various workpieces. It has been widely used. From the late 1970s to early 80 international appeared the 3rd generation ceramic cutter-silicon nitride ceramic tool. These ceramic cutters have higher toughness, impact resistance, high temperature strength and thermal shock resistance than composite alumina cutters.
The production of ceramic blades has grown rapidly in the industrialized countries. Since the mid 1960s, the production of composite alumina blades, the current annual production capacity of 14.15 million pieces. Silicon oxide ceramic blades have been studied since the mid 1970s, because of poor performance, can not meet the demand. In recent years, with the research of high temperature structure ceramics, the properties of silicon nitride ceramics have been greatly improved, so that silicon nitride ceramic tools have been developed rapidly in China.