霸刀分享-根据制造数控刀具所用的材料分类
数控刀具作为现代制造业的核心工具之一，其性能直接决定了加工效率、表面质量以及生产成本。随着工业技术的不断进步，尤其是航空航天、汽车制造、精密模具和能源装备等高端制造领域的快速发展，对切削工具的要求也日益严苛。为了满足不同材料、不同工况下的加工需求，数控刀具按照制造材料的不同被划分为多个类别，其中最具代表性的便是高速钢刀具、硬质合金刀具、陶瓷刀具、立方氮化硼（CBN）刀具以及金刚石刀具。这些刀具各具特色，分别适用于特定的加工环境与材料体系，在金属切削领域中扮演着不可替代的角色。
从历史发展的角度来看，刀具材料的进步始终与工业革命的步伐紧密相连。早在19世纪末，传统碳素工具钢是主要的切削材料，但其耐热性和硬度有限，难以适应高效率加工的需求。20世纪初，随着冶金技术的突破，高速钢应运而生，开启了“高速切削”的新时代。此后，随着粉末冶金、超硬材料合成等技术的发展，硬质合金、陶瓷、立方氮化硼和人造金刚石相继进入实用阶段，逐步构建起现代切削工具的完整谱系。如今，这五类刀具不仅在物理性能上形成梯度分布——从相对柔软但韧性好的高速钢，到极端坚硬但脆性较大的金刚石，更在应用场景上实现了专业化分工。它们共同支撑着现代智能制造的高效运转，成为推动产业升级的重要技术基础。
高速钢（High-Speed Steel, 简称HSS）是一种以铁为基体，添加大量钨、钼、铬、钒及部分钴等合金元素制成的高合金工具钢。它的诞生标志着人类首次实现了在不显著降低刀具强度的前提下，大幅提升其红硬性——即在高温下仍能保持足够硬度的能力。典型的M2高速钢含有约6%的钨、5%的钼、4%的铬、2%的钒和少量钴，通过特殊的热处理工艺（如淬火+多次回火），可在600℃左右的切削温度下维持HRC60以上的硬度，远超普通碳素钢。这种特性使得高速钢刀具能够在较高的切削速度下持续工作，从而显著提高加工效率，这也是其名称“高速钢”的由来。
硬质合金（Cemented Carbide）是目前应用最广泛的数控刀具材料，全球超过70%的切削刀具采用此类材质。它并非单一金属，而是一种典型的“金属陶瓷”复合材料，主要由难熔金属碳化物（如碳化钨WC）作为硬质相，以钴（Co）或镍（Ni）等金属作为粘结相，通过粉末冶金工艺压制烧结而成。根据ISO标准分类，常见的硬质合金可分为K类（钨钴类，用于铸铁和有色金属加工）、P类（钨钛钴类，适用于钢件加工）和M类（通用型）。其硬度可达HRA89～94（相当于HRC74～82），远远超过高速钢，且在1000℃以下基本不发生软化，具备出色的红硬性和耐磨性。
陶瓷刀具是一类以无机非金属材料为主体的高性能切削工具，主要包括氧化铝（Al₂O₃）基陶瓷、氮化硅（Si₃N₄）基陶瓷、赛隆（Sialon）陶瓷以及近年兴起的复合陶瓷（如Al₂O₃-SiC whisker增强型）。这类材料通过高温烧结或热压成型工艺制备，具有极高的室温硬度（可达HRA91～95），仅次于立方氮化硼和金刚石，且在1200℃以上仍能保持良好硬度，展现出惊人的热稳定性。正因如此，陶瓷刀具特别适用于高速干式切削、硬态加工和难加工材料的连续切削场合。
立方氮化硼刀具由立方氮化硼在高温高压下转化而成，硬度仅次于金刚石，耐热温度可达1400℃，化学稳定性高、可磨性较好，抗弯强度与韧性略低于硬质合金。一般用于高硬度、难加工材料的半精加工和精加工。
人造金刚石是碳的同素异形体，是目前最硬的刀具材料，有极高的硬度和耐磨性，与金属摩擦系数小，切削刃锋利，导热性好、热膨胀系数低。不过它耐热温度低，700 - 800℃易脱碳失去硬度，抗弯强度低、对振动敏感，与铁有很强化学亲合力，不宜加工钢材，主要用于有色金属及非金属的精加工、超精加工以及作磨具、磨料。
Classified according to the materials used in the manufacture of CNC tools
As one of the core tools in modern manufacturing, the performance of CNC cutting tools directly determines processing efficiency, surface quality and production cost. With the continuous advancement of industrial technology, especially the rapid development of high-end manufacturing fields such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, precision molds and energy equipment, the requirements for cutting tools are becoming increasingly strict. To meet the processing requirements of different materials and working conditions, CNC tools are classified into multiple categories based on the manufacturing materials. Among them, the most representative ones are high-speed steel tools, cemented carbide tools, ceramic tools, cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools and diamond tools. These cutting tools each have their own characteristics and are respectively suitable for specific processing environments and material systems, playing an irreplaceable role in the field of metal cutting.
From the perspective of historical development, the advancement of tool materials has always been closely linked to the pace of the Industrial Revolution. As early as the end of the 19th century, traditional carbon tool steel was the main cutting material, but its heat resistance and hardness were limited, making it difficult to meet the demands of high-efficiency processing. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the breakthrough in metallurgical technology, high-speed steel emerged, ushering in a new era of "high-speed cutting". Since then, with the development of technologies such as powder metallurgy and the synthesis of super-hard materials, cemented carbide, ceramics, cubic boron nitride and synthetic diamonds have successively entered the practical stage, gradually forming a complete spectrum of modern cutting tools. Nowadays, these five types of cutting tools not only form a gradient distribution in physical properties - from relatively soft but tough high-speed steel to extremely hard but brittle diamond, but also have achieved specialized division of labor in application scenarios. They jointly support the efficient operation of modern intelligent manufacturing and have become an important technical foundation for promoting industrial upgrading.
High-Speed Steel (HSS for short) is a kind of high-alloy tool steel with iron as the base material and a large amount of alloying elements such as tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, vanadium and some cobalt added. Its birth marked the first time that humans had achieved a significant increase in the red hardness of cutting tools without significantly reducing their strength - that is, the ability to maintain sufficient hardness at high temperatures. Typical M2 high-speed steel contains approximately 6% tungsten, 5% molybdenum, 4% chromium, 2% vanadium and a small amount of cobalt. Through special heat treatment processes (such as quenching + multiple tempering), it can maintain a hardness of over HRC60 at a cutting temperature of around 600℃, far exceeding that of ordinary carbon steel. This characteristic enables high-speed steel tools to operate continuously at high cutting speeds, significantly enhancing processing efficiency. This is also the origin of its name "high-speed steel".
Hard alloy (Cemented Carbide) is currently the most widely used material for CNC cutting tools, with over 70% of the world's cutting tools made of this material. It is not a single metal but a typical "metal-ceramic" composite material, mainly composed of refractory metal carbides (such as tungsten carbide WC) as the hard phase and metals like cobalt (Co) or nickel (Ni) as the binder phase, which are pressed and sintered through powder metallurgy processes. According to the ISO standard classification, common cemented carbides can be divided into K type (tungsten-cobalt type, used for processing cast iron and non-ferrous metals), P type (tungsten-titanium-cobalt type, suitable for processing steel parts) and M type (general-purpose type). Its hardness can reach HRA89 to 94 (equivalent to HRC74 to 82), far exceeding that of high-speed steel, and it basically does not soften below 1000℃, featuring excellent red hardness and wear resistance.
Ceramic cutting tools are a type of high-performance cutting tools with inorganic non-metallic materials as the main body, mainly including alumina (Al₂O₃) -based ceramics, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) -based ceramics, Sialon ceramics, and the composite ceramics that have emerged in recent years (such as Al₂O₃-SiC whisker enhanced type). This type of material is prepared through high-temperature sintering or hot-pressing forming processes, featuring extremely high room-temperature hardness (up to HRA91 to 95), second only to cubic boron nitride and diamond. Moreover, it maintains good hardness above 1200 ° C, demonstrating astonishing thermal stability. For this reason, ceramic cutting tools are particularly suitable for high-speed dry cutting, hard state processing and continuous cutting of difficult-to-machine materials.
Cubic boron nitride tools are made by converting cubic boron nitride under high temperature and high pressure. Their hardness is second only to diamond, with a heat resistance temperature of up to 1400℃. They have high chemical stability and good grindability, but their bending strength and toughness are slightly lower than those of cemented carbide. It is generally used for semi-finishing and finishing of high-hardness and difficult-to-machine materials.
Synthetic diamond is an allotrope of carbon and is currently the hardest material for cutting tools. It features extremely high hardness and wear resistance, a low coefficient of friction with metals, sharp cutting edges, good thermal conductivity and a low coefficient of thermal expansion. However, it has a low heat resistance temperature, is prone to decarburization and hardness loss at 700-800 ℃, has low flexural strength, is sensitive to vibration, has a strong chemical affinity with iron, and is not suitable for processing steel. It is mainly used for the fine and ultra-fine processing of non-ferrous metals and non-metals, as well as for making grinding tools and abrasives.