From Powders to Performance—A Comprehensive Study of Two Advanced Cutting Tool Materials Sintered with Pressure Assisted Methods

This paper presents a comprehensive study of two tool materials designed for the machining of Inconel 718 superalloy, produced through two distinct sintering techniques: High Pressure–High Temperature (HPHT) sintering and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The first composite (marked as BNT), composed of 65 vol% cubic boron nitride (cBN), was sintered from the cBN–TiN–Ti3SiC2 system using the HPHT technique at a pressure of 7.7 GPa. The second composite (marked as AZW) was fabricated from the Al2O3–ZrO2–WC system using SPS at a pressure of 63 MPa. The final phase composition of BNT material differed significantly from the initial composition due to reactions occurred during sintering. In contrast, the phase composition of the AZW ceramic composite before and after sintering was similar. The materials exhibited high quality, as evidenced by a Young’s modulus of 580 GPa for BNT and 470 GPa for AZW, along with hardness of 26 GPa for BNT and 21 GPa for AZW. Both composites were used to prepare cutting inserts that were evaluated for their performance in machining Inconel 718 alloy. While both inserts showed durability comparable to their respective reference commercial inserts, they differed in performance and price relative to one another.