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Sumitomo has developed new steel turning grades: AC8015P for high-speed machining, and AC8035P for interrupted machining. They join the general-purpose AC8025P. In the manufacturing of machinery components, which includes the automotive industry, heavy electric and construction machinery machining, there is a growing demand for cutting tools Lathe Carbide Inserts with higher efficiency and longer tool life to achieve shorter lead times and lower machining costs. In addition, with the progress of labor-saving manufacturing sites (automation, unattended), a stable tool life that prevents sudden trouble during machining is also required.

In response to these challenges, Sumitomo has developed two new steel turning grades: AC8015P, a versatile grade for high-speed to general-purpose machining, and AC8035P, for stability in general-purpose to interrupted and heavy cutting applications. AC8000P makes it possible to greatly improve efficiency and reduce costs in every aspect of steel turning.

AC8015P, with its crystal control and high-strength alumina layer, this grade boasts superior wear resistance in high-speed and high-efficiency machining. It also utilizes Sumitomo’s Carbide Aluminum Inserts proprietary CVD coating technology—Absotech Platinum coat—coupled with a newly-developed tough carbide substrate to improve its resistance to chipping and welding. It boasts twice the wear resistance of conventional grades when used in high-speed machining with a cutting speed (Vc) of more than 1,450 sfm, exhibiting long tool life in a wide range applications from high-speed to general purpose.

AC8035P, utilizing a new surface technology that controls residual stress on the coating layer, boasts superior stability in interrupted machining. In addition, the combination of a super-tough carbide substrate and the company’s latest Absotech Platinum coating exhibits excellent chipping and welding resistance. Fracture resistance during strong interrupted and heavy machining is double that of conventional grades, with excellent stability from general purpose to heavy interrupted cutting.

Tsugami/Rem Sales offers its S206 LaserSwiss machine, which combines six-axis Swiss-type turning with laser cutting on a single machine Carbide Grooving Inserts and in one setup. The company says that this machine is ideal for medical manufacturing, particularly for very small, tubular parts. Maximum machining diameter is 0.787" (20 mm) and maximum part length is 8.26" (210 mm) per chucking.

The machine uses the IMG 400LS laser cutting system. The nozzle standoff adjustment is NC-controlled, and the laser’s frequency, pulse width, focus and power all adjustable. In addition to the laser, the turning center provides as many as 36 tools, with maximum diameters of 22 mm for the main spindle collet holders and 20 mm for the subspindle collet holders. The main spindle speed ranges from 200 to 10,000 rpm. Maximum cutting speed is 20"/sec. (500 mm/sec.).

Additional features include through-part coolant and automatic part-handling options. All operations are programmed and driven CNC Carbide Tool Insert from the machine’s FANUC 32i-B control.

Taiwan has made international news lately for its role as the world’s largest supplier of semiconductors, dwarfing its nearest competitor in both volume and quality. Supporting this industry, which relies on extremely precise processes, is a robust machine tool industry that supplies everything from five-axis machining centers to precise grinding machines and EDMs.

Recently, I traveled to the country’s capital Taipei for the Taipei International Machine Tool Show (TIMTOS), co-hosted by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), and I found a machine tool industry that is keeping pace with the latest manufacturing innovations.

Many companies focused on the benefits of digital tools for machining parts. For example, Fair Friend Group (FFG) Sales Director Andy Hung explored the numerous monitoring systems the company uses for its rotary transfer machines. “Our visualizer system has real-time monitoring of machining operations,” Hung says. “In the same program, we have maintenance suggestions. Both are easily understood by the operator, who can easily see when actions need to be taken.” 

Wayne Hsueh, sales director at Victor Taichung Machinery, spoke about the applications of digital twins in manufacturing. “The digital twin sets up a 3D model through servo parameters to simulate the actual cutting conditions of a machine tool to guarantee parts can be machined perfectly as expected and without losses,” Hsueh says. Toolpath simulation using a digital twin not only enables machinists to prevent collisions, but provides them the opportunity to identify ways to improve the machining process and reduce cycle times.

According to Buffalo Machinery General Manager Paul Chang, the benefits of digital technology are many and varied. “Industry 4.0 means you will be able to do much better job training and strategizing,” Chang says.

Additionally, he notes that digital toolsets included with the company’s machines enable shops to monitor energy consumption, both to meet carbon management goals and reduce cost. “We monitor the energy consumption of the machine tool, and this enables us to modify processes to meet carbon goals and reduce energy costs.” These capabilites come standard with many of the company’s machine tools, including the company’s gantry-type five-axis VMCs like the Axile G6.

While these digital tools have widespread utility, one area that saw an especially intense use of digital solutions was the realm of automation.

Automation was obviously one of the more important technologies on display at TIMTOS, but companies emphasized more than just bar feeders and robots. Instead, the focus was on intelligent automation — the use of sensors and other digital tools that enable machine cells to adapt to changing parameters. This approach to automation is designed to provide flexibility to the user.

According to Dah Lih Machinery Sales Manager Ricard Wang, “The premise of smart automation is that mechanical equipment must have intelligent capabilities so that it can have intelligent functions such as fault prediction, precision compensation and automatic parameter setting.” For example, his company’s Tool Breakage Monitor tracks the spindle motor for changes in the current load. When the load is abnormal, it automatically stops machining and sounds an alarm.

This kind of system can help avoid scrapped parts during lights-out machining, in addition to making it easier for one operator to serve multiple machines during their shift.

Yeong-Chin Machinery (YCM) highlighted its multi-pallet system, a pallet pool that enables users to load up to eight different workpieces. “If you put eight different parts on this system,” says YCM Director Jeffery Ervay, “you can run eight different part programs, and you can run them in any order.”

This makes it perfect for automating high-mix, low-volume work. Moreover, these systems connect to machines with monitoring capabilities that enable users to identify problems in-process. WNMG Insert “We can see how long machines are running or identify which parts might potentially be going bad,” says Ervay.

Buffalo Machinery’s Paul Chang further discussed the use of machine tool monitoring in unattended machining. “For example, in an overnight shift, nobody will be at the machines, but you can monitor them from your device to make sure they are still making money for you.” When problems arise, managers can react immediately or prepare the morning shift for disruptions to production. These monitoring features come standard on many Buffalo machines.

At the Taiwan Machine Tool booth, Executive Vice President Clair Chen introduced me to the company’s TLT-200MYW, a multitasking machine capable of milling, drilling, tapping, turning and grinding in a single setup. “With Milling Inserts this machine, you can reduce errors from loading and unloading,” Chen says. The machine comes with monitoring software and tool managements systems that enables managers to keep track of spindle utilization and tool wear, even remotely. “With smart automation, the customer can not only overcome labor shortages, but also create a more efficient production line.”

The image of automation as a single cell devoted to manufacturing a single part year-round has fallen by the wayside as flexible solutions like cobots and pallet pools have made automated machining more accessible to job shops. With digital tools like the ones on display at TIMTOS, automation is even more accessible and more reliable than it has been in the past.

One thing that stood out in my conversations with Taiwanese manufacturers was the fundamental similarity in the needs of Taiwanese and American machine shops. Both are facing harsh personnel crunches that are being addressed through increased automation. Both rely on the defense industry for a great deal of their work. Both produce large numbers of precision parts with tolerances measured in microns.

These similarities mean that the Taiwanese machine tool market fills many of the needs that American manufacturers face: low personnel, complex parts, difficult materials and fragile workpieces are all common in Taiwanese machine shops. With such similar challenges, many U.S. machine tool manufacturers can comfortably look at solutions developed in Taiwan to overcome the challenges they face.

This brings us back to widespread presence of digital tools at the show. For decades, shops have been told that a digital revolution is coming to the machining world. That’s no longer the case — the digital revolution has already arrived, and OEMs around the world are fully embracing digital solutions that have proven reliable in actual manufacturing environments.

Machine monitoring, toolpath simulation, digital twins, tool monitoring — these have all proven their value in many shops and can help the U.S. meet challenges as it expands domestic manufacturing.

GF Machining Solutions’ AgieCharmilles Cut 200/300 MoldTech series of wire EDMs is designed to meet the needs of moldmakers. According to the company, the machines are equipped with a bundle of dedicated technical features and capabilities for accurate, efficient machining of highly complex parts with variable surface heights or taper cuts. Suitable applications include plastic injection molds, aluminum extrusion dies, and components for the aerospace and medical industries. The MoldTech package is available on four GF Machining Solutions high-speed wire EDM models: the Cut 200 mS, Cut 200 Sp, Cut 300 mS, and the Cut 300 Sp.

The EDMs’AgieCharmilles AC Cut human-machine interface (HMI) helps to reduce setup and improve productivity. The Taper-Expert smart module for cutting highly precise large taper angles with quality surface finishes. The module enables the use of large-radius wire guides and soft brass wire, and compensates in real time for the pivoting point APKT Insert drift in the Z direction when the angle changes. The module is said to enable surface finishes of (Ra) 0.2 micron and better angle cuts ranging to 30 degrees.

The control also features Taper-Expert Advance, a taper adjustment function for fine-tuning the CNC parameters and control taper accuracy. The HMI also includes AC Opticam 3D, an onboard CAM system capable of importing 3D CAD files including Parasolid and IGES. Users can bring solid model files into the control, extract all ruled shapes and automatically generate the ISO code for each profile.

The EDMs’ Multijet smart threading system enables threading start holes as small as 1.5 mm in diameter, even when the machine is in a position to cut tapers ranging to 30 degrees. Additional features include a Power-Expert wire-breakage prevention module and Surface-Expert Carbide Grooving Inserts smart system that monitors and adjusts sparking parameters, which also helps prevent wire breakage.

Molybdenum is the ideal material for glass melting electrodes due to its good electrical and thermal conductivity, excellent corrosion and creep resistance. Generally, the diameter of electrode ranges from 10mm to 120mm, which is mainly depended on the current density.

To melt borosilicate glass, the most common diameter of electrode is 50mm. When the current density ranges between 0.42 A/cm2 and 0.49A/cm2, the electrodes do not need to be moved forward as they have no consumption. For vertical electrodes, whether the electrode to be continued in the furnace required to be evaluated when the density value reaches 0.8A/cm2.

For electric furnaces with a long furnace age (more than 4 years), the current density increases as the electrode is consumed. If the electrode is not ready to continue, the current density needs to be controlled at a lower value. Normally, there is little consumption for moly electrode when the current density runs below 0.6A/cm.

When molybdenum glass melting electrode is used to smelt soda lime glass and other low-resistance glasses that have a resistivity lower than 15Ω·cm, it is difficult to control the current density below 0.6A/cm2 because of its low viscosity and low resistivity. Therefore, electrodes with φ75mm diameter are often used. In addition, the electrodes will also have different degrees of loss during operation, so the electrodes must be made continuous. From the perspective of operating cost, the plate electrode consumes less and is more suitable for electrofusion of soda lime glass.

The conductive distance of the electrode has a direct impact on the service life of moly electrode. If the distance is too close, it will be in a low-voltage and high-current state during operation. This local high power will not only reduce the life of refractory materials, but also increase the electrode loss and bring defects to the product. In addition, if the current density value is too large, the destructive effect on the electrode will be even greater. Within the allowable range of voltage that the electric melting furnace Cemented Carbide Tips can withstand, the high-voltage and low-current operation scheme can improve efficiency on conditions that it must meet the requirements of melting process and operational safety.

It is reported on Nov. 27, that there is a Chinese molybdenum company wins the bid of buying Congo Freeport McMoRan's majority stakes, which has got the support and salutes from the government in Congo. The mine is a copper project despite objections from state miner Gecamines.

This is a challenge transaction after Gecamines last week and assertation a right of first order dealing at the International Court of Arbitration.

Chinese Molybdenum spends $2.65 billion deal for Freeport's 56 percent stake, agreed to in May, must respect the rights of Gecamines, which holds a 20 percent stake in Tenke, one of the world's largest copper mines. K10 tungsten carbide rod

Toronto-based Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) exercise its right of first order on Nov. 15 and it owns the remaining 24% stakes, after which Freeport says the sale to China Molybdenum will go through. Gecamines said last month it had submitted an offer to buy Freeport's stake without revealing any details. Freeport denies that Gecamines has a right of first offer.

Democratic Republic of Congo, which mined nearly 1 million tonnes of copper last year, is Africa's top producer of the metal and also extracts significant quantities of gold, diamonds, cobalt and tin.

It is because of large amount of the mines, conflict metals are issued mainly based on Democratic Republic of Congo, including tungsten, gold, titanium, and tin. Conflict minerals are mineral mines where armed conflict and human rights abuses occur and mostly in the eastern region of DRC.

74 of Mendeleev's Periodic Chart of the Elements is tungsten and symbol W, which has been one of conflict metal. Wolfram is its another name used mainly in Europe. It owns properties of high melting point, high boiling point, high density, high tungsten carbide burrs thermal conductivity, high electricity conductivity, ect. Molybdenum is also a refractory metal, which is similar to tungsten. The Chinese molybdenum company wins bid in Congo is mainly dealing with molybdenum in China.

China molybdenum price is in the upward trend on February 20, 2021 after the holiday of Spring Festival. Driven by the continuous rise in international molybdenum price, domestic molybdenum chemical companies have strong rised tungsten carbide cutting tools mentality.

At present, molybdenum concentrate price is above RMB 110,000/ton, molybdenum oxide price is advancing towards RMB 1,660/ton. However, affected by the end of the Spring Festival holiday, Cemented Carbide Inserts traders' enthusiasm for entering the market has not yet reached the best state, so the atmosphere of buying and selling in the market is not good.

In the news: in January, factory prices for industrial producers nationwide rose 0.3% year-on-year and 1.0% month-on-month; purchasing prices for industrial producers rose 0.9% year-on-year and 1.4% month-on-month, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Prices of molybdenum products on February 20, 2021

Picture of molybdenum oxide

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Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are interesting for understanding the fundamental physics of two-dimensional (2D) materials as well as for applications to many emerging technologies, including spin electronics. Here, we report the discovery of long-range magnetic order below TM=40 and 100 K in bulk semiconducting TMDs 2H-MoTe2 and 2H-MoSe2, respectively, by means of muon spin rotation (μSR), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

The μSR measurements show the presence of large and homogeneous internal magnetic fields at low temperatures in both compounds indicative of long-range magnetic order. DFT calculations show that this magnetism is promoted by the presence of defects in the tungsten carbide ball crystal. The STM measurements show that the vast majority of defects in these materials are metal vacancies and chalcogen-metal antisites, which are randomly distributed in the lattice at the subpercent level.

DFT indicates that the antisite defects are magnetic with a magnetic moment in the range of 0.9 to 2.8 μB. Further, we find that the magnetic order stabilized in 2H-MoTe2 and 2H-MoSe2 is highly sensitive to hydrostatic pressure. These observations establish 2H-MoTe2 and 2H-MoSe2 as a new class of magnetic semiconductors and open a path to studying the interplay of 2D physics and magnetism in these interesting semiconductors.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), a family of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials like graphene, have been a subject of tremendous amounts of experimental and theoretical studies due to their exciting electronic and optoelectronic properties. TMDs share the same formula, MX2, where M is a transition metal and X is a chalcogen. They have a layered structure and crystallize in several polytypes, including 2H-, 1T-, 1T′-, and Td-type lattices. Much interest has focused on the cases of M=Mo or W, because the 2H forms of these compounds are semiconducting and can be mechanically exfoliated to a monolayer.

In bulk form, 2H-MoTe2 is a semiconductor with an indirect bandgap of 0.88 eV. The unique properties of TMDs especially in the monolayer form have shown great promise in device applications such as magnetoresistance and spintronics, high on/off ratio transistors, optoelectronics, valley optoelectronics, superconductors, and hydrogen storage. Many of these interesting properties arise on account of the strong spin-orbit interaction present in these materials due to the heavy metal ion.

While there are many studies focused on the spin-orbit coupling and the interesting consequences for electrical and optical properties in these systems, there are very limited, and mostly theoretical, studies on intrinsic magnetism in these materials. Theoretical and experimental work shows that in the absence of crystalline imperfections, the Mo-based TMDs are nonmagnetic. The ability to add magnetism into the properties of these materials can open up a host of new opportunities as tunable magnetic semiconductors.