Carbide is harder. So it can be ground to a sharper cutting edge |
I was going ot give you a little hell on this but you kinda explained it. Basically the carbide has a denser structure but cant take the impact load a high speed steel insert can or M8 cobalt high speed mix. Micrograin carbides are great because they take more shock load without chipping and have a slightly more uniform composition (like cryogenics.......well kind of). Some materials dont like carbide at all...Like titanium. When you turn or mill a piece of titanium you need a cutter that will actually act as a heat sink if it breaks down and the chip isnt taking all the heat. Work hardening occurs and in the aerospace industry this used to be a big problem. Parts made out of a huge chunk of titanium when a endmill smoked it would take 3-4 new end mills to get the tool path back. 304,316 and other stainless steels are similar but some are more forgiving that titanium. Sharper edge carbides are NOT ideal due to chipping and snapping of the tip. If you look closely as say a ingersoll(iscar) or kennametal or carboloy insert it isnt a knife edge if its carbide. Carbide requires a shoulder relief to add structural strength to the insert. so that statement isnt exactly true...not that I am a know all
