Identifying the Right Carbide Die For Your Industrial Application
One of the more common carbide dies used in tool fabrication is tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide comes in many different grades that can be categorized based on how much cobalt is added as a binding agent to the actual carbide die. As the percentage of cobalt increases — usually in increments of 6%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 20%, and 25% — the hardness of the carbide die decreases while conversely being able to withstand a harder, more direct hit.
When selecting the right carbide die for your application, another method is to determine the ideal coating to increase carbide wear resistance and lubricity. The right carbide die coating is important as it helps improve essential functions such as wear-resistance and longer durations of elevated working speeds and feeding.
For example, certain additives can be mixed with difficult-to-form metals such as stainless steel to create quality hardness and impact resistance while still allowing the consistent flow of the metal through the tooling process.
