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ABN
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Introduction
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Cubic
Boron Nitride (cBN) is the second hardest known material,
only diamond being harder. cBN is synthesized from
hexagonal boron nitride under conditions similar to those
used to produce synthetic diamond from graphite. |
The
desirable characteristics of an abrasive include high
hardness, abrasion resistance, strength and resistance to
thermal and chemical attack whilst maintaining sharp
cutting edges during use. Compared to conventional
abrasives such as silicon carbide and aluminum oxide, cBN
exceeds their values in most of the key requirements. Its
properties of high thermal stability and resistance to
chemical attack make it suitable for machining ferrous
materials, an area where diamond abrasives are not
normally employed.
Hardness is a very important physical property of an
abrasive. Most abrasive materials lose hardness at
elevated temperatures. One of the physical advantages of
cBN, compared to conventional abrasives, is that, in
addition to being harder at ambient temperature, it
maintains this hardness advantage over a wide temperature
range.
To provide the toolmaker with a choice of abrasive to
enable optimization of the tool for a specific
application, the Abrasive Boron Nitride range now
comprises four products: ABN200, ABN300, ABN600 and
ABN800. Each provides different crystal strength, degree
of thermal stability, crystal morphology and particle
shapes.
ABN abrasives generally provide higher productivity
compared to conventional abrasives when grinding, honing
and fine finishing hardened ferrous materials and
difficult-to-machine alloys. These include, for example-
g
hardened
carbon steels
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alloy
tool steels
g
bearing
steels
g
cast
irons
g
superalloys
g
hard
stainless steels |
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Historically,
the main use for cBN was in tool and cutter grinding of high
speed steels. While this remains an important application
area, cBN is also firmly established in production grinding
in the engineering, automotive and aerospace industries. In
these modern industries all four main bond types are used:
resin, vitrified, electroplated and sintered metal. The ABN
range offers a comprehensive choice of products.
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