Greenleaf Corporation

 In early summer 2010, I had a long talk with Dale Hill, applications engineer at Greenleaf Corp., the cutting tool manufacturer in Saegertown, Pennsylvania.

Designed to machine hard materials such as hard steels and nickel- and cobalt-based super alloys, Greenleaf’s WG-300 whisker-reinforced ceramic inserts are said to provide wear and shock resistance at high surface speeds.

 Excelerator Mills are designed for high-performance milling in difficult-to-machine materials using the company’s ceramic inserts. Typical application areas include most hardened materials above 40 Rc and nickel- and cobalt-based super alloys. Ring Max ring-groove cutters are engineered to cut machining time of API ring grooves, the company says.

Designed specifically for the oil and gas industry, Greenleaf Corporation’s expanded Ring Max line of ring groove tooling is suited for difficult to machine materials. Combined with the company’s WG-300 or WG-600 whisker-reinforced ceramic inserts, the ring groove cutters can reduce cutting times from 30 min. to less than 1 min.

The difficulty of close tolerance finishing in both high temperature alloys and titanium is particularly real in the Aerospace industry, where thinwall construction is becoming more common. Read how an insert gave this shop an edge.

Applying ceramic inserts is not a simple substitution of one cutting tool material for another. There are significant process considerations that shops should examine carefully in order to realize performance and tool life expectations from ceramic inserts. Here's a look at some of the ways they are used.

Ron Malone, applications engineer at Greenleaf Corporation, explores The Benefits & Techniques Of Hard Milling With Ceramics. This presentation was filmed at the 2006 Mold Making Exposition.