Development of cutting tools with selective laser melting from electroless nickel-coated tungsten carbide powder material

This study was on whether cemented carbide tools could be produced using cheaper and more readily available Ni binder instead of expensive Co binder using selective laser melting, which is a new generation production method that can be easily produced in the desired design without losing scrap. The study determined the optimum laser manufacturing parameters for the production of Ni coated WC powder by electroless deposition using the selective laser melting (SLM) method and produced turning inserts with those parameters. Production of SLM-based turning inserts, including Ni-coated WC powder (WC-Ni), encountered some problems due to lack of binder. Pure Ni powders were added to Ni-coated WC powders (WC-Ni + Ni) to improve bonding which increased relative density, reduced surface roughness and resulted in ∼95 % reduced wear rate. For optimum SLM conditions, the microhardness value was measured as 1879 ± 130 HV_0.3. The surfaces of the turning inserts produced by SLM were then ground. TiN coating was applied and the microhardness after coating was as 2002 ± 174 HV_0.3. After turning, the TiN-coated SLM insert had the lowest surface wear and performed very close to the conventionally manufactured insert.