On the occasion of Ceramitec (Messe München, Stand A6.307), Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme presents a newly developed class of tools: PKD torus cutters for machining monolithic ceramics and hard metals. The first specimen, with the project name P150M, has 25 cutting edges at a diameter of 3 mm. The number of cutting edges and their special geometry enable milling of materials that are so hard and brittle that they can usually only be processed by grinding.
Manufacturing complex shapes from solid polycrystalline diamond (PKD) is challenging, but Hufschmied has also expanded its manufacturing capabilities in this area and opened a new chapter. As a technology leader in material- and process-specific machining solutions, Hufschmied is now optimizing the machining of the hardest ceramic materials such as zirconium oxide or silicon nitride.
The newly developed geometry of the 'P150M' has two main goals: to minimize the load on each individual tooth while maintaining a high feed rate of the tool. Even with a feed per tooth in the range of 1 µm, the many teeth of the new tool allow for effective and process-reliable machining.
Milling solutions for ceramic materials
'Among all our special solutions, this is one of the most specialized, but for those who need to rework brittle hard ceramics, for example in aerospace, our new tools finally provide the option for significant process optimization,' says Christel Hufschmied, managing director of Hufschmied Zerspanungssysteme GmbH. The current PKD tool is the latest development in a whole series of solutions for ceramic processing, such as the Zirconator for the production of dental prosthetics made from zirconium oxide or the newly developed tools in the research project 'CMC-3D' for the production of turbine blades from Ceramic Matrix Composites.
The new class of PKD tools will also be one of the topics of the ceramic workshop at Rego-Fix AG in Tenniken, Switzerland, on August 27, 2026, which Hufschmied is conducting together with DOCERAM GmbH, Röders GmbH, and MHT Mold & Hotrunner Technology AG.
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