Stainless Steel: Machining Guide

Stainless steel can be as typical as Aluminum in numerous stores, specifically when producing parts for the aerospace and automobile sectors. It is a fairly functional product with several alloys and qualities which can fit a variety of applications. However, it is likewise one of the most difficult to equipment. Stainless steels are notorious end mill assassins, so dialing in your rates as well as feeds and also choosing the appropriate tool is necessary for machining success.

Material Properties

Stainless-steels are high-alloy steel with exceptional deterioration resistance to carbon as well as low-alloy steel. This is mostly because of their high chromium content, with most qualities of stainless-steel alloys including a minimum of 10% of the component.

Stainless steel can be burst out right into among five categories: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, Precipitation Hardened (PH), and also Duplex. In each group, there is one fundamental, general objective alloy. From there, small changes in structure are made to the base in order to create particular properties for various applications.

For referral, below are the residential or commercial properties of each of these groups, as well as a couple of instances of the preferred grades and their typical usages.

Tool Choice

Choosing the correct tooling for your application is essential when machining stainless steel. Roughing, finishing, slotting, as well as high-performance milling can all be optimized for stainless steel by picking the correct style of the end mill.

Traditional Roughing

For standard roughing, a 4 or 5 groove end mill is suggested. 5 flute end mills will permit higher feed rates than their 4 flute counterparts, however, either style would work well for roughing applications. Below is an exceptional example of standard roughing in 17-4 Stainless-steel.

Slotting

For slotting in stainless steel, chip discharge is going to be vital. Because of this, 4 flute tools are the best selection because the reduced groove count allows for extra effective chip evacuation. Tools with chip breaker geometry additionally produce reliable slotting in stainless steel, as the smaller-sized chips are much easier to leave from the cut.

Completing

When finishing stainless-steel components, a high flute count and/or high helix is required for the very best results. Finishing end mills for stainless steel will certainly have a helix angle over 40 degrees, and a flute matter of 5 or more. For much more aggressive completing toolpaths, groove count can vary from 7 flutes to as high as 14. Below is an excellent instance of a finishing run in 17-4 Stainless-steel.

High-Performance Milling

High Effectiveness Milling can be a very efficient machining strategy in stainless-steels if the right devices are picked. Chip breaker roughers would certainly make a superb choice, in either 5 or 7 groove designs, while standard 5-7 groove, variable pitch end mills can also do well.

HEV-5

We use the end mill, which is a very flexible device for a range of applications. We excel in finishing as well as also perform well above the standard in slotting as well as typical roughing. Available in square, corner radius, and also long reach styles, this versatile tool is an exceptional option to start your tool crib as well as enhance it for stainless steel machining.