Grade Selector Guide Aids Engineers & Designers
GREENSBURG, PA, February 18, 2010 -- General Carbide Corporation (GC), a leading manufacturer of carbide tooling, has created a Grade Selector Guide that is accessible on the company's web site at www.generalcarbide.com. The Guide provides a step-by-step process to arrive at the proper grade selection for tungsten carbide tooling based on the user's input to questions asked about application parameters and operating environment.
"This new online feature will save carbide tooling users valuable time," says
Mona Pappafava-Ray, president of General Carbide. "If used at the outset of a project, the Grade Selector will help customers make the right decisions quickly so they can simplify the grade selection process and accelerate turnaround time for their customers. It also helps to ensure maximum wear life."
The Grade Selector works when the user identifies one of a dozen industry sectors from a drop-down menu. The user must then indicate whether the application will be subjected to thermal shock. Then, by employing a set of drop-down menus, the user must indicate the importance of impact, corrosion and galling/adhesive resistance to the application. The user is then taken to a page with PDFs of the potentially appropriate tooling.
Ms. Pappafava-Ray, however, encourages users to consult with GC sales engineers before deciding which tooling is best for a particular application.
"Because each application can be different, and operating conditions often dictate that one grade of carbide tooling may be more successful than another, customers should consult with one of our highly experienced sales engineers before selecting a tooling grade," says Ms. Pappafava-Ray.
The Origins of Carbide Tooling
Introduced in the early 1920s, tungsten carbide replaced tool steel as the preferred material for cutting tool applications. It was developed into an engineering material used to resist the harsh environments to which tooling was subjected, including: corrosion; high temperatures, compressive loads and impact; deformation; and severe abrasion.
Tungsten carbide tooling competes with advanced ceramics in the wear parts arena, but just as tungsten carbide did not displace tool steel entirely, advanced ceramics can not replace tungsten carbide totally because they offer superior toughness in addition to
high hardness.
For almost a century, tungsten carbide has enjoyed tremendous growth as a tooling and engineering material, and the GC Grade Selector narrows the range of choices for the designer to specify the optimum grade for any application more easily than ever.
About General Carbide Corporation
General Carbide manufactures more than 50 grades of carbide tooling for a variety of cutting and metal forming applications, including: Ammunition, boring bar, can, fastener and powder metal/compaction, steel and wire manufacturing; general industrial wear parts and metalforming; oil and gas components; rotary cutting dyes; and stamping. The company was established more than 40 years ago and is headquartered in Greensburg, PA, near Pittsburgh. For more information, contact Tom Shearer, General Carbide Corporation, at 724.836.3000, x113, e-mail trshearer@generalcarbide.com or visit www.generalcarbide.com
