A composite tool for ball endmilling

The paper reports on the performance of a novel composite ball nose endmill that utilizes cermet and tungsten carbide indexable inserts on the same cutter body, with a view to optimizing both tool life and workpiece surface roughness. The technique exploits the asymmetric design of the cutter to position the cermet and tungsten carbide inserts appropriately, so that their characteristic tribological attributes are consistent with the functions …