Tap range first showing at MACH
To be shown for the first time at a UK exhibition, the LMT Fette IQ Plus tap range for blind and through holes has been developed to extend production life between 30 and 50 per cent over conventional TiCN coated taps. This capability is due to a new ‘intelligent’ coating development by the German toolmaker that in effect, adapts to the cutting conditions to provide a more consistent and predictable process.
IQ Plus taps are now available through LMT (UK) based in Coventry in M6 to M14, and both UNF and UNC between 1/4 and 5/8 for threading in steel, heat resistant, stainless and tool steels as well as nitriding and structural steels.
The multi-layer nano-structured coatings have a highly wear resistant base layer adhered to the substrate of the insert with a softer, but tougher IQ Plus sputter coating fused into its surface. Under cutting conditions and following a few passes in contact with the material being processed, the IQ Plus coating is subjected to micron-compression. This has the effect of ‘running in’ or smoothing the outer coated surface that reduces the co-efficient of friction which in turn reduces the torque requirement for the process. Both the soft and hard layer then interact to provide a more consistent performance demonstrating lower wear factors on the tool and so increase the production life. In recent trials on 42 CrMo4 steel, a M10 x 1.5 IQ Plus tap was run at 25 m/min to a depth of 24 mm using a soluble coolant. When compared against the usable life of a standard TiCN coated tap of 1,800 holes, this was improved by 44 per cent to 2,600 holes with IQ Plus.
Typical speeds with IQ Plus, either using coolant or cutting dry on plain carbon and free cutting steels, are between 30 and 40 m/min and even heat treatable and case hardening steels can be run between 20 and 30 m/min. Stainless steels can be machined using coolant at between 15 and 20 m/min and nitriding and tool steels between 12 and 16 m/min.
