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Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (head office: Chuo-ku, Osaka, President: Osamu Inoue, hereafter "our company") has developed and launched the tool grade AC4125K, for interrupted machining of cast iron, for sale as of December 28, 2023. Cast iron is used in the automotive industry among many other fields, where gray cast iron*1 is used for parts such as engine blocks and brake discs where sliding is required, while ductile cast iron*2 is used for parts such as differential cases and carrier cases where strength is required. In recent years, the ratio of high-strength ductile cast iron (FCD600 and above), with high strength and poor machinability, has been increasing, in order to reduce thickness and weight in consideration of the global environment. In addition, parts machining is increasingly subjected to harsh cutting environments such as interrupted machining of complex shapes and rough machining where cast surface is machined as it is, leading to tool life fluctuation due to cutting edge chipping becoming an issue. In response to these issues, our company has developed the coated grade for cast iron turning AC4125K. Although priced the same as our company's conventional tools, it helps reduce machining costs by lowering tool usage and tool change frequency through stable and longer tool life. 1. Features Our 1st recommended grade for interrupted machining of cast iron. Through the use of AbsotechTM, our proprietary CVD*3 coating technology, to provide excellent chipping resistance by maximizing compressive stress to realize stable and longer tool life for roughing of components such as differential cases and carrier cases. In addition, the use of a gold exterior makes it easy to identify used corners, contributing to easier tool management. 2. Lineup Insert: Total of 244 Cat. Nos. (December 28, 2023: 128 Cat. Nos. for sale; February 2024: 116 Cat. Nos. for sale) 3. Sales Plan 90 million JPY in the first year, 340 million JPY/year after 3 years 4. Price Priced the same as our company's conventional tools (Standard Product) CNMG120408N-GZ: 980 JPY (excluding tax) *1Gray cast iron: Cast iron is an alloy primarily composed of carbon (C) and silicon (Si), with C content of 2.1% or more. Gray cast iron is a type of cast iron that appears gray on the fracture surface because carbon is more present in the form of graphite than in the form of cementite. *2Ductile cast iron: A type of cast iron containing somewhat more carbon and silicon than gray iron, with the graphite becoming spherical due to the addition of magnesium and/or cerium. *3CVD (chemical vapour deposition): One of the coating deposition methods, which uses gas reaction to form a thin coating film. Raw material gas containing the ingredients of the target coating is supplied to a heated substrate material in a reaction chamber, forming the coating through chemical reaction in the gas phase or on the substrate surface.

Due to confidentiality agreements, Bening would not specify which OEMs are trialling PCD in the hard rock cutting space but confirmed that E6 is working on PCD prototype testing and trials with several leading players and has achieved impressive results.

Taking a hard rock cutting unit, E6 can supply the PCD material on its own, the whole component, the pick or the disc cutter, whatever the customer wants, but primarily E6 is a materials expert.

As previously published by IM, major developers of continuous hard rock cutting machines for mining include Epiroc (Mobile Miner), Sandvik (MX650), Caterpillar (Rock Header/Rock Straight) and Komatsu (DynaCut).

In mining one of the most interesting markets is hard rock cutting, where the potential for Element Six materials is enormous in rock tools. In relevant ASTM tests such as B611-13, PCD performs up to 500 or 650 times better than tungsten carbide. Of course it has a significant price premium but its performance far, far outweighs this price gap. Bening stated: “PCD is a supermaterial so has a higher price but massive advantages in performance that come with it.”

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And hard rock cutting is not the only mining focus. PCD also has potential in down the hole (DTH) drilling where Percussive Diamond Inserts are used on the bits, and again advanced trials are ongoing with the main global manufacturers of drill bits, with a lot of success so far. PCD means a lot of energy savings in bit use, and bits keeping their shape much longer meaning no regrinding is needed.

Element Six, as a company, was set up to harness the unique properties of synthetic diamond (polycrystalline diamond or PCD) and tungsten carbide to deliver supermaterials that improve the efficiency, performance and reliability of industrial tools and technology, including in mining.

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It is worth remembering that the company while focussing on advanced materials also has a unique position in the industry, with diamond mining major De Beers Group the 100% owner of the technologies part of the business, and De Beers Group, itself, part of global mining company Anglo American. Some of the industry’s leading hard rock cutting technologies are already being used by these operators, at Anglo’s Twickenham platinum mine, for example. E6 also has all the required raw material sourcing and manufacturing capability such as advanced high pressure/high temperature presses in house to allow it to supply PCD solutions in the quality, consistency and quantity that will be needed to the mining global market.

IM recently met with Element Six (E6) Global Sales Director, Mining, Road & WP, Markus Bening, to better understand what this means for the mining industry and what progress has been made.

Bening told IM: “Today there is a lot of advanced testing and fine tuning using our PCD in the cutting tools of the latest hard rock cutting mining machines. In the next five to ten years I see continuous hard rock cutting going commercial throughout the mining industry and E6’s PCD technology will undoubtedly form an important part of that.”