Investigation on Cutting Tool Performance of α-Si3N4 - β SiAlON Ceramics

One of the ceramic products is ceramic cutting edges and these are used as cutting tools for fabrication of metal products (ferrous and non ferrous metals) at very high speeds. These cutting tools can mainly be classified silicon nitride, alumina, mixed-ceramics, titanium carbonitride, cubic boron nitride and hard ceramic particle reinforced metals. Ceramic cutting tools offer a high productivity because of their superior hardness, fracture toughness and resistance of elevated temperature which allows higher cutting speeds. In addition to these, resistance to chemical attacks is important in selection of cutting tool materials. In this research, high dense Si3N4 ceramic parts were fabricated, and cutting performance of the produced α/β Si3N4 ceramics were investigated. The microstructure analyses were carried out by SEM and optical microscopy.