09
2025
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05
What kind of tap for hardened steel?
Machining hardened steel is a technical challenge because this type of material has high hardness, high cutting resistance, and severe tool wear.
Hardened steel usually has a hardness between HRC 45 and 65, and is commonly found in high-strength parts such as mold steel, tool steel, and gear steel. This type of material has the characteristics of high hardness, high strength, difficult to process after heat treatment, easy tool wear, high cutting temperature, and extremely high requirements for tap material and coating.
Then, the following series of taps are recommended for machining hardened steel:
1. High-performance high-speed steel taps (such as H-CUT series)
Advantages: Special geometric angles and coatings (such as TiCN) are designed, suitable for HRC43-55 materials, and the life can reach more than 200 holes when manually or at low speed.
2. Straight groove taps (carbide or super-hard high-speed steel)
Advantages: Strongest rigidity, suitable for high-hardness materials (HRC40+), stable chip removal when the chips are in powder form
Note: The depth of blind hole machining needs to be controlled (≤2D) to avoid chip blockage.
3. Coated taps (TiAlN / AlCrN / TiCN, etc.)
Common material base: HSS-E, HSS-PM, Carbide
Advantages: Improve heat resistance and reduce cutting friction
Applicable scenarios: Dry machining or minimal lubrication machining
Recommended coating: TiAlN (titanium aluminum nitride) is suitable for high temperature machining
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