Properties of Ferro-Titanit®

Ferro-Titanit materials combine the properties of tool steel and cemented carbide. They are characterized by the following properties:

 

Ferro-Titanit® can be hardened up to 70 HRC. Simple heat treatment achieves substantially greater hardness than with steel. Tools have an extraordinarily long service life. Significant savings result due to reduced tool costs. Longer machine operating times lead to lower retooling costs.

Ferro-Titanit® can be hardened with extremely little distortion, since titanium carbide displays only slight thermal expansion and no transformation. As a result of being manufactured by powder metallurgy, the structure is moreover free of segregation and fibering. It should be vacuum hardened, because the zones of negative influence otherwise necessitate a larger machining allowance on the tools. In the case of C-Spezial, hardening and tempering results in an increase in the initial dimensions. The dimensions of the WFN and S grades are reduced by residual austenite. On the other hand, the dimensions of these grades can be increased by intense cooling in liquid nitrogen. The dimensional change is always less than 0.1%.

Ferro-Titanit® offers good opportunities for combination with steel and can be connected by composite sintering and composite brazing. When used in a combination, Ferro-Titanit® is applied only in the areas exposed to wear. The steel used as the substrate permits savings on material, offers greater toughness and can be machined more economically.

Ferro-Titanit® permits re-use of worn tools. Worn tools and wear parts can be annealed any number of times and converted into new parts (no change in structure). Just a little reworking in fully annealed condition rapidly produces replacements for failed tools or wear parts (example: reworking of a drawing tool to a larger section).

Ferro-Titanit® can be machined in accordance with existing guidelines. In the as-delivered, annealed condition, it can be machined by conventional methods, such as turning, planing, milling, drilling, etc. The in-house toolmaking department can be called in, making it possible to produce durable tools at a relatively low cost price.

Ferro-Titanit® displays minimum adhesive wear. The titanium carbides in Ferro-Titanit® (45% by volume) do not react with other materials. The low level of adhesive wear – which is hardly noticeable on well-polished tools, particularly on drawing tools – and the great wear resistance result in high tool life quantities with optimum surface quality.

Ferro-Titanit® has a low specific density. Ferro-Titanit® is 50% lighter than cemented carbide and still 15% lighter than steel. That offers advantages when designing for high centrifugal forces.