Development of China's Cutting Tool Industry

From the perspective of the current status of China's cutting tool industry, on the one hand, it has made important contributions to the development of China's manufacturing industry; but on the other hand, compared with the demand for manufacturing during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, it has adjusted its product structure. There is still a certain gap between the three aspects of tool innovation, tool innovation and industry transformation. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, we must make new progress in these three areas to meet the needs of the "Twelfth Five-Year" development plan for the tool industry and lay the foundation for longer-term development.

First of all, about product structure adjustment. Today, tool materials have entered the era of cemented carbides. Compared with high speed steels, carbides have better performance and higher cutting efficiency. Together with superhard tooling materials, modern cutting technology is realized. The most important guarantee for efficient processing. At present, the proportion of carbide cutting tools in China is about 40%, which is far lower than that of industrial advanced countries, which restricts the improvement of the overall level of China's cutting tool products. Without good tool materials, any tool innovations and advances in cutting processes lack the necessary material basis and can only be castles in the air. However, to fundamentally solve this problem involves the adjustment of the industrial structure. In addition to the existing Zhuzhou Diamond Cutting Tool Co., Ltd., it is necessary to speed up the construction of a production base with hard alloy materials and tool development capabilities, and rapidly increase the proportion of cemented carbide tools in all cutting tools. This is a project that requires a lot of investment. It needs the guidance and support of the relevant government departments.

Second, we must pay attention to the issue of tool innovation. The innovation of cutting tools is the most important factor in promoting the progress of cutting technology and improving the cutting machining efficiency. The innovative performance of modern cutting tools in three aspects:

First, the innovation of material brands. It accounts for a large proportion of current tool innovations. Some large integrated companies with the development and production capabilities of hard alloys and superhard materials abroad have introduced a large number of new tool material grades each year, which has become the main selling point of their new tool products. Its development idea is to develop the “prescription for remedy” based on the characteristics and requirements of the application field and integrate the advantages of materials, coatings, and grooves, so that the blades have performance advantages within a certain range of applications, and obtain good processing results. It can increase the processing efficiency by more than 20%. Therefore, it is imperative to speed up the construction of China's hard alloy tool material R&D and production base.

Second, the innovation in tool coating. Since coating technology has entered the field of tool applications, tool coating technology has developed very rapidly. With the continuous development of the coating process, equipment, and composition innovation, its modification effect on the tool is also increasing. Because the coating technology has the advantages of significant improvement in tool performance, good process flexibility, and rapid development of new grades, it not only greatly improves the cutting performance of the cutting tools, but also makes the blade coating brand innovation faster and better. Coating has become the most important factor in the advancement of cutting technology. So far, China does not have the ability to independently develop tool coating equipment and technology, which has restricted China's progress in cutting technology and innovation in coating grades. Therefore, it is imperative to vigorously develop tool coating technology.

Third, the innovation of tool structure. At present, the momentum of tool structure innovation is very strong and shows great potential. In the machine tool exhibitions in recent years, the new structure of various tools that tool makers competed to launch became a highlight of everyone's attention. The innovative tool structure not only improves the tool performance, but also has a great influence on the development of the tool variety. For example, it can realize the milling cutter structure of the slope milling, which greatly expands the milling cutter function and reduces the time of tool change. Its structural characteristics have been extended to different types of milling tools, forming a variety of milling cutters that can perform slope milling. Drive the development of milling processes and milling cutters. In addition, such as large feed deep milling cutters, unequal helix angle end mills, scraper blades, thread cutters with guide rails on the underside of the blades, and internal cooling structures such as profiling turning tools and cutting tools, etc. The structure is endless and numerous. The emergence of each new type of tool will cause great concern in the industry, and quickly promote the application in the industry, to play a significant role in the development of tool types, improve tool performance. Many tool companies in China only make tools and do not produce tool materials. Therefore, we must pay more attention to the innovation of tool structure.