b'Catching 22 Although some end users con- cess that follows drilling more com-sider titanium a heat-resistant su- plicated. You could potentially de-peralloy, thats not the case. A lotstroy a boring tool, Craine said.mounts, side body cords and land- of people like to lump titanium intoOne way to help avoid that prob-ing gear components. the same category as high-temp al- lem is by selecting a tool with the To help jet engines run hotter andloys, but its its own breed of mate- proper relief angle so it doesnt rub lighter than current designs, tita- rial that needs to be treated differ- the workpiece material. In titanium, nium producers are developing andently, Craine said. you have the propensity for the ma-testing new grades that might beHe emphasized its critical to un- terial to pinch the side of the drill, so even more challenging and costly toderstand that friction and inade- we developeda geometry designed cut, he noted. quate chip evacuation cause tita- for greater success, Craine said. nium to workharden while beingAlthough that application-spe-In the Cut drilled. As a result, a titanium work- cific design requires the drill to run Effectively machining titanium, anpiece with a hardness of 32 HRCat a lighter feed rate, most titanium element with the atomic number 22,might workharden to 50 HRC insideaerospace applications, for exam-begins by having the proper cuttingthe hole, which makes every pro- ple, dont have a need for speed, tools. One toolmaker with offeringsCraine added. The material costs targeted at titanium is Allied Ma- about the authorare more of a concern. If you can chine & Engineering Corp., Dover,get that job done without damag-Ohio. Other than Allieds 4TEX in- Alan Richter ising the part, then thats a success.dexable carbide drill, the best op- editor of CTE.In addition to the relief angle, a tion for drilling titanium, accordingContact him atdrill must have the correct rake angle to Field Sales Engineer Nate Craine,847-714-0175 orand hone to effectively cut titanium, is Allieds APX drill with a special re- alanr@ctemedia. noted Kevin Vanderbeck, East Coast placeable insert. com. field engineer for Allied Machine.Titanium.indd 40 6/17/19 10:30 AM'