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What tools to mill black zirconia

zackjong

Plastic
Joined
May 2, 2019
I want to make a rotor with black zirconia. so far, we have tried a PCD end mill with diamond coating D2 x 4 but the coating wear off quickly? Is there any recommendation on which tool to be use?
 
If this is a ceramic material you're trying to mill, you can't - not without some laser assistance. Look into diamond grinding pins, which will have to work much slower than an endmill but with patience can shape ceramics.

YouTube
 
Zirconia, alumina, beryllia...all are hard ceramics that can only be machined by grinding with diamond tools. Cutting out of flat sheets can be done on a waterjet.
 
Im doing parts that require high precision and it is a disc shape with gear like teeth around it~i wonder if PCD tool or tool with diamond coating will do the job? how do i choose the diameter of the tool and other specification for the tool?
 
Fuck, you don't want much on your first ever post. Dr. Google tells me that's about 8/10ths as hard as diamond on the Mohs hardness scale.

I'd predict no one here will tell you that. And no, its not the race card. If i could cut that, I'd be keeping that knowledge entirely in-house / proprietary.

You might try a lapidary forum.

Regards Phil.
 
Im doing parts that require high precision and it is a disc shape with gear like teeth around it~i wonder if PCD tool or tool with diamond coating will do the job? how do i choose the diameter of the tool and other specification for the tool?

Tool selection is entirely dependent on part geometry. How can we help you Spec tools for a part we can't see ? But as others have said this material is not cutter friendly and grinding may be the way to go.

Good luck friend

Make Chips Boys !

Ron
 
You have to grind it with diamond and getting the right tool is EVERYTHING, well that and using it correctly. Just a little off and a few seconds, hell half a second later the working part of the tool is now chips. Judging by your questions I would say this is WAY over your head. I have been machining quartz and ceramics for 18 years now and it sounds like this would be a very challenging job for me, one I would not give a firm bid on.
 
David, have you checked into laser assisted ceramic machining? I first became aware of it years ago, a Fraunhofer Institute project at the time, but never had any personal experience with it. It does look intriguing...
 
I never knew of it until that video. I wish they would have shown the roughing since they don't show much material removal until the thread. Everything I have done is basic 3 axis milling. The ultrasonic methods always intrigued me but I never have seen one work.

So talking about it got me to searching for a video and found an nice one here. Check out the tool at 1:09, looks like something I made a few years ago. It is an ER11 taper with a 1/4" router nose. This was just an extra that I never had diamond coated. My version nixed the nut and screwed in from the back with a SHCS as the "drawbar".

er11.jpg
 
This is confuuusing as there are "Peeps" that happily machine Black Zirconium metal...


https://www.espimetals.com/tech/machiningzirconium.pdf

But / And


There are "peeps" that jig grind materials like Cubic Zirconia (ZrO2) and Zirconia Toughened Alumina

High Accuracy Grinding of Hard Materials Using a Hauser Jig Grinder with Robotic Automation - Insaco

Does OP / @jackjong really mean Zirconia not (black) zirconium ?

Zirconium alloy - Wikipedia

^^^ Various Zirconium alloys... Main application in nuclear industry ; (good at neutron absorption without adverse effects .).



@jackjong do you have a print / diagram you can share ?
 
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IMG_6065.jpg the drawing at the left is the one that i want to produce and the raw material is at the right. the only description for the material is only black zirconia~
 
If it damaged your diamond coated tools I'd guess it's a ceramic, not metallic material. If you have a high speed spindle you could try diamond grinding pins, or maybe there's some sort of laser ablation or electron beam machining method that could work. But those aren't standard shop tools, they're getting pretty exotic. Ultrasonics is probably the most realistic "out there" technique.

What machines do you have?

Electron-beam machining - Wikipedia
 
we are only using simple cnc cut here~this is the tool we bought for the test run~the diamond coating just chipped off after milling the outer surface of the material. IMG_6066.jpg
 
Check out this site: Diamond & CBN Internal Grinding Pins

I expect you'd get essentially the same stuff from China, a search will find a lot of hits. You want short pins, course and fine, and as much speed and flood coolant as you can get. A spindle speeder will help, just be sure it's a rigid design, if it's not it can't control the pin location well and you'll damage part and pin.

Slow feeds, experiment with process parameters until you get something that's reliable/repeatable. May want to add a filter to your coolant system to capture some of the abrasive dust (both ceramic and diamond).
 
It looks like the center hole in the blank is too big. Looking through the center hole of the blank it looks like the part is REAL thin in the center. Just a thought but from what I am hearing and seeing so far it looks like no one involved in this project has a clue, or your black zirconia isn't what we think it is. Did any of the tools you tried cut your blank much or did they immediately fail? If they cut at all a photo of the part and the feeds, speeds, and tools used would help.
 








 
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