Influence of Combined Hard and Fine Machining on the Surface Properties of Cemented Carbides

As a result of recent developments in cold forging cemented carbides are increasingly used as tool materials. Due to their high hardness only electrical discharge machining (EDM) and grinding are suitable for tool machining. The structure of tool surface has significant influence on dominating failure mechanisms wear and fatigue. For improvement of tribological conditions the surface is polished in a finale processing step. The result of hard and fine machining is a specific combination of coarse and fine structure which is determined by processing parameters. The different surface structures lead to a particular tool behavior in forming process. This paper aims to show the influence of combined hard and fine machining on the surface properties of cemented carbides.