Numerical Simulation of Fabrication for Ceramic Tool Materials

Abstract

Ceramic materials have good mechanical properties, such as high hardness, good wear resistance and elevated-temperature anti-oxidation. So, Ceramic materials are widely applied not only in the field of aeronautics and astronautics, building and mechanics in modern technology, but also in the field of the cutting tool materials. Ceramic tool materials are widely used in the dry cutting and high speed cutting. The preparation of ceramic tool materials includes powdering, forming, hot-press fabrication and machining process. A green compact before sintering is a porous packing of loose powder that is held together by weak surface bonds. The individual particles fabricated together to form a dense, strong monolithic part by sintering. The driving force for the sintering is the reduction in surface free energy of the particle. This reduction is performed by diffusion transport of material. Many factors affected the process of material transport and the exhalation of pores. Therefore, the hot-press fabrication is a very complicated process in which the compact formed of fine powder materials fabricated at the temperature below the melting point of the main constituent for the purpose of gaining the enough strength of the compact by bonding particles together. The hot-press fabrication is a key process, which governs the mechanical properties of the ceramic tool materials as well as the components and content.