Developments in applications of PCD tooling

Composite materials based on various fillers and fibres bonded together wit h either plastic or metal matrices are becoming increasingly important in t he aerospace and automotive industries. Glass, carbon fibre, and aramid fib re composites are now well accepted. For situations where higher strengths are required, metal-matrix composites (MMCs) are being developed. These mat erials are usually based on aluminium or titanium alloys stiffened with cer amic particles, such as silicon carbide, or fibres such as alumina. While t hese materials exhibit very useful mechanical and thermal properties, they are extremely abrasive and have proved difficult to machine. This paper qua ntifies the performance of PCD tooling on two types of MMC and makes machin ing parameter recommendations. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.