Effect of the filling and compaction process on insert weight and quality

• Main Author: Westlund, Viktoria
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-224602

In this thesis, the filling and compaction process in Sandvik Coromant’s production of inserts has been studied with the goal to determine which factors causes weight and shape variations. The study is based on previous research [1-4] in which the powder flow and the packing of the powder is studied with a model die shoe filling system. This study is more complex, taking also the compaction into account and a Fette MP120 press is used instead of a model. The factors which were confirmed to affect the final shape of the inserts were the fill-shoe velocity, the geometry of the die, the morphology of the powder and if a shaking motion was added to the fill-shoe or not. It was proven that to minimize the shape irregularities, really high fill-shoe velocities should be avoided. Since different powders have different flow rates, the fill-shoe velocity should be changed depending on which powder is being used. The fill-shoe velocity should also be lower for narrow die geometries since they are harder to fill. Finally, it is good to add a shaking motion to the fill-shoe because it increases the fill density. A different type of powder filling was tested called suction filling. This method turned out to take longer, give the same weight variations between the inserts as the regular filling method and is only able to be used for less than half of the inserts produced at Sandvik because it can only fill negative geometries.