Wear Performance Evaluation of Tungsten Carbide Taps in Blind Hole Tapping Cast Iron
The engineblock and cylinderhead of automobile are usually made of cast iron, and tapping of blind holes is one of the most demanding operations. As usual, tapping is the final process for an engineblock, and the failure of taps can disable the engineblock possibly. The productivity is restricted because of the low cutting speed and poor wear resistance of high speed steel (HSS) taps. Thereby, according to the demand on high speed cutting and low tact time of modern engine production lines, several new typical special tungsten carbide taps are developed and their cutting performance are evaluated in comparison with the commercial taps. In the process of tapping blind holes in gray cast iron and ductile cast iron, several aspects are studied comparatively such as wear mechanism of the first complete and the last incomplete tooth, tap structure, wear of TiCN coating and effects of coolant on cutting performance of taps. This study indicates that straight coated taps with fewer flutes are suitable for high speed tapping of cast iron.