Effect of the electrospark alloying regime on the durability of high-speedsteel R6M5K5 cutters

The effect of electrospark alloying with refractory compounds based on WC, TiC, TiN, and TiB2 on the mechanical and service properties of high-speed s teel R6M5K5 cutters was investigated Increasing the electrospark discharge energy by increasing the current strength to 3 A, and the specific alloying time to 1.2-1.8 Msec/m(2) increased the alloyed layer depth, but decreased the microhardness. Further increase of alloying time did not produce furth er increase in layer depth. The optimal regimes of electrospark alloying we re determined from durability tests of the hardened cutting tool. The great est increase in durability (by 1.3-1.4 limes) was obtained at I = 1.5-2 A, tau = 0.9-1.5 Msec/m(2), at which values the optimal combination of hardnes s and coating depth was attained.