Aerospace scientist and eleventh President of India, Abdul Kalam, famously said that “Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts result in action.” This philosophy captures the spirit of India’s aerospace sector, which is poised to become the world’s third-largest aviation market by December 2025. But to sustain this momentum, continued progress in component production and supply chain efficiency are essential. Here Sunil Joshi, President of Sales, India, at metal cutting specialist Sandvik Coromant, explores how advanced machining technologies are reinforcing the country’s position in the global aerospace market.

For decades, India’s aerospace industry faced significant challenges that hindered its global competitiveness, from dependence on imported technologies to inefficiencies in manufacturing processes.

However, government-led initiatives such as Make in India and the Production Linked Incentive scheme have significantly transformed this landscape over the past decade. These initiatives have incentivised domestic manufacturing, encouraged foreign direct investment and promoted skill development, resulting in a thriving aerospace ecosystem.

Today, India is home to one of the fastest-growing aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industries, expected to drive MRO advancements across the Asia-Pacific region. What’s more, global original equipment manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus and Rolls-Royce are increasingly sourcing critical components from India, recognising the country as a reliable supply chain partner. There are also signs of indigenous innovation, with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra emerging as key regional aerospace hubs.

To sustain growth and remain globally competitive, India’s aerospace manufacturers must tackle two key challenges: improving supply chain efficiency and enhancing component quality. Adopting advanced machining technologies and digital solutions could play a crucial role in overcoming these obstacles.

Advancing components

Across the aerospace industry, there has been a growing shift toward using advanced materials such as titanium and heat resistant superalloys (HRSAs) for aircraft components. These materials are essential because they reduce overall component weight while maintaining strength, resulting in lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft that lower operating costs and reduce environmental impact

For India, the ability to manufacture aerospace components from these advanced materials is critical to supporting its ambitions of becoming a global aerospace hub. However, these materials present significant machining challenges due to their hardness, heat resistance and propensity for rapid tool wear.

Advanced machine tools are essential for overcoming these challenges and ensuring the production of high-precision, high-quality components.

Turning tools such as Sandvik Coromant’s CoroTurn® 107 and CoroCut® 2 with their wear-resistant S205 and GC1205 grades provide the toughness needed to maintain stability during long machining cycles, reducing tool changes and ensuring consistent performance in demanding environments. This is especially important when machining turbine discs and spools, where maintaining tight tolerances and achieving high-quality surface finishes is critical.

Similarly, milling tools like the CoroMill® Plura HD/HFS, the CoroMill® 316 in GC1745 and GC1710 grades and the CoroMill® MS20 in S30T, S40T and 2040 grades offer the rigidity and chip control required for efficient roughing and finishing of titanium and superalloys. By minimising tool wear and part distortion, these tools enhance machining efficiency and support the production of critical components such as turbine blades, spools and shafts.

While milling is essential for internal features, edge milling plays also crucial in aero frame assembly, where composites must fit precisely to ensure strong bonds and structural integrity. The CoroMill® Plura Router (2P350 series) is designed for this purpose, delivering clean, accurate edges, ensuring reliable bonding, fastening and long-term durability in aero-frame assembly.

Alongside edge milling, drilling is equally important in aero frame assembly, creating the precise holes essential for proper assembly and component alignment. The CoroDrill® 862-GM with veined polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is ideal for drilling HRSAs and composites. The veined PCD structure, with channels within the diamond, improves heat dissipation and wear resistance, maintaing precision and extending tool life.

However, as the aerospace manufacturing ecosystem grows, it is vital that advancements in component production are supported by a strong, resilient supply chain.

 Strengthening supply chains

In February 2025, Huw Morgan, senior vice president of Aerospace Procurement at Rolls-Royce, stated: “India is the best solution to supply chain challenges. Our engine volumes are growing at around 20%, and traditional supply chains can’t support it.” This statement reflects a broader trend in which disruptions in Western supply chains position India as a key partner for aerospace components.

Minimising downtime, extending tool life and maintaining consistent quality is critical to meeting delivery like timelines and controlling costs. Smart machining technologies are proving indispensable in addressing these challenges, offering real-time data and actionable insights that optimise operations and improve production efficiency.

Platforms such as Sandvik Coromant’s CoroPlus® MachiningInsights empower manufacturers by enabling predictive maintenance and process optimisation. With real-time monitoring and predictive analytics, MachiningInsights tracks tool performance, detects potential wear and adjusts machining parameters before disruptions occur. This proactive approach extends tool life and ensures uninterrupted, high-quality production.

Other elements of CoroPlus® can support more efficient aerospace manufacturing. For instance, with ToolGuide, manufacturers receive recommendations on tools and provides cutting data, optimising machining. Furthermore, ToolLibrary provides production engineers, CAM programmers and machine operators with a library of over 900,000 cutting tool items. This capability saves time when choosing the correct cutting tool and preparing tool assemblies, optimising production.

The integration of smart machining solutions strengthens collaboration between OEMs and suppliers by providing transparent, real-time production data, reducing lead times and ensuring that aerospace components meet exacting standards. Such operational agility, coupled with predictive maintenance, can help position India as a trusted supplier of high-quality aerospace components in an increasingly competitive global landscape.

As India continues to advance its aerospace capabilities, transforming ambition into action, as Abdul Kalam envisioned, will be the key to success. Advanced machining technologies are improving supply chain efficiency and the quality of components. This progress not only meets growing global demand but also positions India to exceed international standards, turning its aspirations into reality and strengthening its competitive edge in the global aerospace market.

“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.”
This popular quote is often brought up when speaking about today’s fast-paced technological development. Industry 4.0 is paving the way for manufacturing transformation with ground-breaking innovations, which in turn bring opportunities to develop workshops and aim for higher revenues. However, investing in new technology is not the only way to optimise a machine tool setup. In the first of a new article series from Sandvik Coromant, Blasius Reschreiter, global manager of machine tool solutions at the metal cutting organisation, explains how tool shop owners can make the most out of their machines through improved equipment utilisation, quick change tooling, and modular solutions.

In light of recent technological advances, investing in forefront technologies can at first hand appear like a given strategy to conduct a successful business. However, markets are fluctuating. To continually strive for the latest, most high-tech solutions might not be the natural way to go forward in uncertain times. The ability to adapt production to current and future demands in a flexible way is crucial for surviving in today’s economy. Here, we take a closer look at flexible approaches to workshop machinery.

Make the most out of your machine tool set-up Machine tool and cutting tool development is rapidly progressing. However, this can involve considerable investments, requiring time, capital and somewhat secure predictions for future demands. If the market situation and business forecasts are unsure, major investments might not be an option.

When your primary goal is to stay in cost reduction mode and to handle a temporary market downturn, a key consideration should be to investigate your current workshop, to make use of existing machines and existing capacity and, preferably, without dramatically increasing overhead costs.

Another consideration is productivity. Often, we put our focus on achieving maximum metal cutting efficiency. Metal removal rate is one way of measuring efficiency when producing parts. However, what can be an even more important aspect to consider is machine utilization. In an average machine shop, only 50% of a machine’s in-use time is used for machining. Breakdowns, changeovers and maintenance consume the remaining 50%.

Machine utilisation in focus
Increasing machine utilisation is a cost-effective way to boost productivity and make use of the capacity already available. This should be measured as a percentage of the time that the machine is actually producing components. Pushing up active machining time by only a few percentage points makes a big difference.

Increased machine utilisation can be attained by working actively with typical time killers often appearing in a common workshop related to these areas: batch set-up, measuring the component in the machine, tool setting, coolant pipe setting, changing worn tools, chip removal around tools and workpieces or blocked conveyors and component change-over.

Two key approaches to overcome this type of challenge are to work with quick-change tooling and modular systems. By applying quick change and modular solutions, machine utilisation can be greatly increased

Quick change tooling solutions

A quick-change solution can reduce time spent on measuring, set-up and tool change, allowing for drastically improved machine utilization. Through coolant delivery helps to further maximize productivity. There are several benefits with quick change that support keeping the green light on, including reducing batch change-over time. Changing time from one style of tool to another is dramatically reduced using quick change. Up to ten minutes can be saved in one typical turning operation.

Increase the number of tool positions with double tool holders can also help. Turning centres with driven tool holders often have limited space. Using double clamping units allows either sister tooling or an increased variety of tools, thereby reducing the tool change requirement for a wider range of components. Double clamping units can be used when the machine has Y-axis, half turret or sub-spindle.

There’s also potential to reduce downtime when changing worn-out tools. Every time a solid carbide tool with a driven tool holder is changed the tool offset needs to be re-calibrated. With indexable mills and drills, multiple inserts need to be changed. Using sister tool and changing the cutter outside the machine is much quicker. For static tool holders, being able to remove the tool ensures improved maintenance of the tool, correct mounting and no unexpected stops due to needs for spare part purchases.

Eliminating coolant pipe setting can also prove to be a time-saving exercise. When operators are setting the coolant pipe direction, it normally takes two to three attempts to get it right. Poor chip control often then knocks the pipe which means that setting is quite a regular occurrence.

Lastly is improving the speed of production start-up. By eliminating the “first-test component” or “measuring cuts”, scrap is reduced and the production rate increases. Over the course of a year, the use of quick change will result in significantly higher component production and reduced scrap.

Besides from a significant increase in machine utilization, quick change also brings many benefits for the operator, such as user-friendliness and a more ergonomic working environment. For example, changing tools outside the machine reduces accidents, errors and searching for dropped parts.

Turn flexible, go modular
Another strategy for keeping your machines running is modular solutions. A modular system offers a large variety of tool assemblies with different characteristics, decreasing the need for costly, customised tools with long delivery times. Modular tooling helps to avoid spending on separate tools for each machine,
component and feature.

The benefits that modular tooling systems bring are flexibility, reduced tool inventory and multiple tooling combinations, all contributing to increased machine utilization. The ability to maintain continuous production for a long period provides the flexibility needed to make your workshop better equipped to handle changing market conditions.

Four applications where modularity has proven to be extra valuable include reaching difficult to access features, stability in vibration prone operations, small or varying production and extra clearance when machining large components.

While it is certainly true that the “pace of change has never been this fast”, various strategic approaches emerge to ensure adaptability and bolster financial gains in a continuously evolving market landscape. Enhancing machine utilisation, reducing changeover time and investigation into modular systems all contribute significantly to increasing the flexibility of machine shops. In our upcoming article, we will thoroughly explore the effects of investing in new technologies. This will help shed light on how these investments can improve efficiency and open up new opportunities for workshops. Stay tuned!

As components made from nickel-based alloys become increasingly prevalent across the aerospace industry, demand for optimized cutting tools continues to grow. But, despite their advantages, nickel-based materials exhibit poor machinability due to their low thermal conductivity, potential for adhering to cutting tools, and the presence of abrasive particles within the alloy structure. Due to these issues, productivity with carbide tools tends to be low. In addition, part complexity means that some components demand extended reach. Here, Henri Sevonen – Senior Industry Segment Manager – Aerospace for the metal cutting specialist Sandvik Coromant, explains how new ceramic end mill technology has emerged to help meet these requirements, with the potential
to optimize the machining of aero-engine parts and provide significant competitive gains.

Most aerospace parts are manufactured from heat-resistant super alloys (HRSAs) and nickel-based alloys, which place a particular set of demands on production engineers looking to manufacture components like spools, turbine disks, combustion casings, and blisks. Although many manufacturers use conventional solid-carbide end mills, such tools have

their limitations in terms of performance when it comes to nickel-based alloys. In a highly competitive global arena, aerospace machine shops are looking for next-level technologies that are capable of delivering a step-change in factors such as productivity and/or tool life. Ceramic end mills can provide that very leap, offering up to 20-30 times more machining speed, in comparison with solid-carbide tools for operations such as shoulder and face milling. Such impressive gains can be achieved largely because ceramic cutters retain their hardness at the high temperatures which arise when machining nickel-based alloys.

The brazed ceramic CoroMill® 316 exchangeable-head end mill for roughing operations is a productive solution for aerospace engine applications in ISO S materials. In the first instance, the exchangeable head concept facilitates inherent process flexibility. Also available is a six-flute version with a straight corner radius that delivers highly productive side milling operations, and a four-flute version designed to boost face milling thanks to its high-feed face geometry. The ceramic substrate of the end mills allows for a different cutting process in comparison with traditional solid-carbide tools. Importantly, the unique S1KU SiAlON grade is purpose-designed for the superior machining of nickel alloys and is supported by negative geometry that provides a tough cutting edge. The latter also features a T-land for stable operations.

SiAlON carries a chemical composition of aluminum oxide and silicon nitride (Al203+Si3N4), a combination that promotes high wear resistance, even at elevated temperatures.

Stable machining

A stable set-up is advised in all cases, and always without coolant application; machine shops should use pressurized air instead as coolant would simply burn at the high temperatures involved. In addition, the use of coolant promotes thermal shocks and has a negative effect on tool life. Importantly, high spindle speeds are required, of at least 13000 rpm. Further recommendations include the use of down milling, as well as a programmed tool path that keeps the tool in constant contact with the material.

It is clear that nickel-based alloys will play a vital role in the future of aerospace manufacturing. However, there are many challenges facing those tasked with producing aerospace engine components. It’s only through continued tooling innovations, such as ceramic end mill technology, that aerospace machine shops will be able to optimize the machining process

KYOCERA Corporation (President: Hideo Tanimoto) has introduced new CVD coating materials, CA115P and CA125P, for turning insert grades used in automotive and industrial steel machining. The new coating technologies achieve a high level of wear and fracture resistance, resulting in a long tool life. The CA125P was released in late March of this year, and the CA115P will be available starting in June. In addition, Kyocera introduced a PMG Chipbreaker, which covers a wide range of machining applications, in late March of this year, along with the new insert grades.

The new CA115P and CA125P insert grades — the main grades for external and internal turning for steel machining — have a newly developed coating and carbide substrate. The new coating achieves the industry’s highest level^*1 of uniformity in alumina crystal orientation through Kyocera’s proprietary crystal forming technology during the CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) process, which helps to ensure outstanding wear resistance. By combining this ultra-uniform alumina layer with a unique TiCN layer and new carbide substrate with greater high-temperature strength, the insert grades achieve higher wear resistance and fracture resistance, as well as long tool life and stable machining. In addition, the PMG Chipbreaker supports various machining conditions, from medium machining to roughing, making it possible to consolidate tools and contribute to productivity improvement.
Kyocera will continue helping customers to improve productivity by supplying products that provide better performance, cost efficiency, and functionality.

*1. Research by Kyocera as of March 2023

◆Product Overview

◆Features of the New CA115P and CA125P Insert Grades
1. Newly developed proprietary coatings achieve higher wear and fracture resistance
The newly developed CVD coating has a highly uniform alumina layer with outstanding wear resistance, and a TiCN layer with excellent fracture resistance, which provide significant benefits in steel machining. In particular, Kyocera’s proprietary crystal forming technology to ensure a highly uniform alumina layer during the CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) process has successfully raised the uniformity of alumina crystal orientation to the highest level in the industry, resulting in approximately 1.5 times^*2 higher wear resistance compared to conventional products. It also reduces crater wear on the rake face due to chip scraping, which provides long tool life and stable machining.

*2. Comparison data gathered by Kyocera as of February 2023

Wear resistance comparison (Kyocera comparison)

2. Improving productivity in a wide range of machining conditions
CA125P grades support a wide range of machining conditions, from continuous to heavy interrupted machining, and are highly versatile main grades. CA115P grades are for high-efficiency machining in continuous to light-interrupted machining, contributing to productivity improvement through long tool life and stable machining.

◆About Kyocera’s PMG Chipbreaker for Steel Machining
A chipbreaker is a groove or protrusion in the rake face of a tool insert to divide and control chips generated when turning. There are different types of chipbreakers for various machining applications and conditions. Kyocera’s new PMG Chipbreaker has a design developed using Kyocera’s proprietary expertise to achieve smooth chip evacuation in medium-roughing. In addition, the low-cutting-force design of the cutting edge suppresses crater wear on the rake face, which enables lasting chip evacuation, further contributing to longer tool life and stable machining.

Lineup and Scope of Chipbreakers for Steel Machining

PMG Breaker (CG)

The famous quote “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” is often credited to inventor Thomas Edison. Actually, many claim we should be thanking author Kate Sanborn for the wise words. Regardless of their author, the sentiment resonates with many inventors — innovation is rarely a lightbulb moment. Per-Anders Stjernstedt, Senior Engineer at metal cutting expert Sandvik Coromant, understands all-too-well that innovation is a labour of love. In this article, he explains the latest innovation in turning from Sandvik Coromant.

Like any inventor, Sandvik Coromant began with a challenge to solve. How can tooling overcome delays, reduce downtime and support faster production? Software company Senseye’s True Cost Of Downtime 2022 report reveals unplanned downtime costs manufacturers at least 50% more today than it did in the period 2019 to 2020. The same report states that unplanned downtime will cost Fortune Global 500 industrial companies almost $1.5 trillion USD in 2023, equating to 11% of their revenues.

To reduce time wasted changing tools, improve process stability and improve tool wear, manufacturers needed the ability to machine several features with a single tool. And here lies the raison d’être for Y-axis turning. Let’s examine how it works.

Turning angles
First, it’s helpful to think about entering angles. Choosing the correct angle between the cutting edge and the feed direction is vital for a successful turning operation, as it influences chip formation, direction of cutting forces and cutting edge length in cut. An angle that’s higher than what’s required results in a weak cutting edge. One that’s too small might cause the tool to rub at high feed rates, ultimately leading to breakages.

In 2017, Sandvik Coromant developed PrimeTurning, a turning concept that enables ‘all-directional turning’ for greater machining flexibility. Based on the tool entering the component at the chuck and removing material as it travels towards the end of the component, PrimeTurning allows for the application of a small entering angle, higher lead angle, and the possibility of machining with higher cutting parameters.

Alone, PrimeTurning is an innovative feat for turning. But as well as the productivity gains made through chip control, the team also wanted to help manufacturers machine more complex and innovative shapes. PrimeTurning acted as one of several building blocks that led to the development of Y-axis turning.

Entering at the Y
So how does Y-axis turning work? As the name implies, the new method makes use of the Y-axis, and all three axes are used simultaneously when machining. The tool rotates around its own centre, the insert is placed for machining in the Y-Z plane and the milling spindle axis interpolates during turning. This way, intricate shapes can be machined with a single tool.

Y-axis turning offers numerous benefits. The possibility to machine several features with only one tool reduces cycle time. The fact that no tool changes are required also minimises the risk of ‘blend points’, or irregularities between adjacent machined surfaces. Main cutting forces are directed into the machine spindle, improving stability and reducing the risk for vibrations. To improve surface finish, wiper inserts are designed with a wiper edge that is situated where the straight edge meets the corner radius.

The method also helps keep chip thickness at a constant, whether turning with a constant cut depth or turning contours in the workpiece. Because the width of chips doesn’t change, risk of chip jamming is significantly decreased. Not only does this allow for more reliable machining operations, but knowing turning can take place without any mishaps could allow manufacturers to step away from their machines and have them run without supervision.

Meet Per-Anders
Per-Anders is a Senior Engineer at Sandvik Coromant, and is based in Gävle, Sweden. Working for the company for over a decade, Per-Anders has been involved in the development of several innovations. One of his proudest to date is Y-axis turning.

“In past five years, I’ve developed five globally-recognised patents and filed twelve innovation disclosures last year. But Y-axis has been a real career highlight for me,” he said. I like to think I’ve always been an inventor. In my younger years, I was always causing havoc in my father’s garage and experimented with a whole host of passion projects. There were surfboards, motor cycle frames and fixtures and, when I wanted to borrow my parents’ camera equipment for a diving trip, I built the underwater housings so I could film my expeditions.

“Despite this creator’s spirit, none of my engineering successes happened overnight. In the case of Y-axis turning, the team and I went through a six-year cycle of research and development before we got our big breakthrough.”

Crafting the future
Developing Y-axis turning was a labour of love. “When the team began, we had an idea that the market had never seen before. It took time to prove that our ambitions could be realised but, after a lot of internal testing, we’ve already seen a 51% reduction in cycle times using Y-axis turning over competing methods,” Stjernstedt revealed.

To complement Y-axis turning, Sandvik Coromant has also developed a new CoroTurn® Prime variant suitable for shafts, flanges and components with undercuts and the CoroPlex® YT twin-tool, which is best used at an entering angle of between 60 to 90⁰ for more productive machining.

Reflecting on his career, Stjernstedt said: “My advice for anyone with a big idea — just begin. If you’ve spotted a challenge without a solution, you’re already halfway there. I’m lucky Sandvik Coromant gives me the freedom to experiment and learn as I work. Being an engineer doesn’t only require the technical knowledge to develop new products. You have to be a creative thinker, a problem solver and unafraid to challenge the status quo.”

No matter who said “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”, they weren’t wrong. Having the technical skills and ability to develop new solutions is vital, but a lot of invention is the result of hard work. Per-Anders and his team wouldn’t have succeeded without dedication, patience and the determination to re-define turning.

Cutting tool specialist Sandvik Coromant expands its offer of CoroMill® Plura HD solid-end mills for heavy-duty roughing in steel and stainless steel with two new grades. This new generation of grades features the unique Zertivo 2.0 coating, which combines world-class productivity with exceptional metal removal rate and the highest possible process security.
CoroMill® Plura HD is Sandvik Coromant’s first choice optimized solution for heavy-duty applications up to 2×D in steel and stainless steel (ISO P and ISO M), offering safe and efficient solid end milling. Thanks to the new Zertivo 2.0 coated grades tool life, process security and productivity are improved even further.

“With Zertivo 2.0 we apply our comprehensive knowledge in coating technologies to our solid round tools”, says Antti Wikström, Global Product Manager, Solid end mills at Sandvik Coromant. “This gives us an opportunity to offer unique, custom-made coatings that will handle our customers’ machining challenges with superior performance and tooling efficiency.”

The new grades allow for 30% higher cutting speed recommendations in primary application areas ISO P and ISO M, as well as secondary materials ISO K and ISO S, due to their optimized flute shape, which provides effective chip evacuation. The grades designed for stainless steel machining come in two variants: one with internal coolant for improved temperature control and chip flow, and one without internal coolant.

The standard assortment offers diameters from 2–25 mm, a 2×D depth of cut, 4 to 5 teeth, and a ramping angle at 5° or 7°. Tailor Made® options are available within the Customized solutions range.

Supply chain resilience has been a thread weaved throughout the manufacturing industry in 2022. To combat ongoing uncertainties across the ASEAN region, more firms are turning towards India for resilience. In fact, we’re seeing an increasing dependance on the nation to help deliver in areas others still face challenges. There are several trends that demonstrate India’s fortitude during the year as Sunil Joshi, President of Sales for Sandvik Coromant India explains.

It’s been a turbulent year in many respects. Across the globe, energy costs have increased by between 25% and 90% and, in extreme instances, by as much as 300% over the last year. The ongoing logistics disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact businesses, creating a ripple effect across global supply chains.

Furthermore, manufacturers are also faced with something of a sustainability paradox. One the one hand, there’s pressure to deliver products at higher speeds and at lower costs. On the other, they’re facing growing scrutiny from investors, partners and local governments to adopt more sustainable ways of working.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite encountering challenges that could easily throw the industry’s resilience into question, many manufacturers will enter 2023 having weathered the storm. In particular, we’re seeing India shape up to become an ASEAN supply chain hub. With a concerted effort from the Indian government to deliver better transport infrastructure, the country now has the world’s second largest road and rail network. Furthermore, recent developments attest to the growing confidence in India as a manufacturing hub, such as Apple’s decision to manufacture its iPhone 14 in India.

With these challenges and potential in mind, let’s take a look at some of the trends impacting the metal cutting sector this year and beyond.

Getting lighter

Two years into the 2020s and the decade looks set to mark the beginning of a new shift in manufacturing — away from pure profit maximisation and towards a growth approach that incorporates the health of the planet at its core.

Today, manufacturers find themselves having to meet the sustainability needs of a variety of stakeholders. Public awareness of how industry can damage the environment has put emphasis on businesses to change their ways, as they can now be held accountable more easily. In fact, there’s a rising number of consumers who will pay a premium for eco versions of a product, YouGov reports. Having strong sustainability credentials can also make a business more attractive to suppliers and shareholders who have their own sustainability objectives to meet.

One way of satisfying the need for more sustainable products is to make them using lighter materials. If we take the aerospace industry as an example, pressure to lower air travel’s carbon footprint has placed an emphasis on making planes lighter, in order to save on fuel. Shedding weight will help bring down the high fuel consumption of planes. For instance, when United Airlines switched its in-flight magazine to lighter paper, it saved over 170,000 gallons of fuel a year. Every gram counts when making aircraft lighter, from large components such as the wing box, to intricate motors in reclining passenger seats.

Advances in materials have led to a variety of possibilities for aerospace companies. This has been seen through the increased use of composites and graphene, and also lightweight materials such as titanium. Other innovations in materials technology include the use of metal powers and additive manufacturing technologies to design lightweight and more sustainable metal parts.

Titanium is 30% stronger than steel, but nearly 50% lighter — making it a key component in addressing efficiency and sustainability challenges. However, machining materials such as titanium presents its own challenges. Titanium alloys can have double the hardness of steel alloys so, when paired with titanium’s low thermal conductivity, high thermal and mechanical loads are placed onto the tools tasked with cutting the metal. Manufacturers embracing the trend for lighter, yet more challenging, materials must therefore ensure they have access to the right cutting tools.

Elsewhere automotive manufacturing is also undergoing a lightweight revolution. Here, we’re seeing manufacturers turn to aluminium to save weight and make vehicles more sustainable. But aluminum alloys require complex machining with complex and cost-intensive processes and various tools. In addition to very time-consuming tool setups, inferior surface finishes, burr formation and inconsistent tool wear are not uncommon and manufacturers must lean on the right tools to efficiently machine the material.

A connected machine shop

Since, and as a result of, the pandemic, we’ve seen manufacturers across the globe adopt digital technologies at an unprecedented speed. Findings suggest the speed of digital transformation has hastened by several years — as many as seven according to McKinsey.

In India, strides towards digitalisation are being seen as Debjani Ghosh, President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) reveals in NASSCOM and Capgemini’s India Industry Adoption: A Case to Mature Manufacturing Digitalization by 2025 report. In the report, he says: “Industry 4.0 has reached a tipping point in Indian manufacturing […]. Moving forward, it will be fascinating to watch how ready the Indian manufacturing industry is to adopt and scale Industry 4.0, which is largely determined by the use cases selected, the capacity to scale proofs of concept, and the alignment of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) capabilities.” The report also found that Indian manufacturers spent between $5.5 and $6.5 billion dollars on Industry 4.0 technologies in 2021, with half that being spent on Cloud and IoT.

Achieving digitalisation at scale requires a multitude of disciplines to come together — namely machining knowledge, OT and IT as well as more specific technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. Uniting all these areas into a single strategy gives manufacturers the resilience to adapt to change, streamline operations and futureproof themselves.

As companies seek to broaden their capabilities and digitalise, we’re seeing equipment providers and IT companies combine their niches to create a whole new level of value for their customers. This is a key part of Sandvik Coromant’s digital strategy, and will be for years to come. If we think of Sandvik Coromant’s niche, machining and metal cutting, our expertise lies in increasing the efficiency, reliability and repeatability of our customers’ machining operations. If we then look at a company like Microsoft and its Azure cloud computing platform, its niche is very different, but plays an important part in helping our own software solutions to deliver value.

When we combine niches from Sandvik Coromant and Microsoft, we create a specialism that brings a deeper understanding of digital services to the manufacturing space. The CoroPlus®  portfolio of solutions from Sandvik Coromant leverages our unique machining knowledge and integrates all elements of the production flow — people, machines, tools and data — to empower customers to make better business decisions. The solution combines the company’s deep experience in machining with digital solutions from partners such as Microsoft for an enriched portfolio that delivers efficient processes, planning and operations.

It’s a win-win model for both partners, and is how we foresee the manufacturing landscape continuing to flourish in the future. And we’re not stopping there. Moving into 2023, Sandvik Coromant’s mission will continue to revolve around shaping the future of manufacturing through digitalization. Other collaborations, such as Sandvik Coromant’s partnership with CGTech, the developers of simulation software Vericut, are also helping us to create digital synergies that will benefit the entire manufacturing value chain.

This year has certainly proved testing for manufacturers’ resilience. However, despite having storms to weather, several trends are helping to shape the present and future of the industry. We’re already seeing strides towards sustainability and growing investment in digital services, both of which will pave the way for a greener, leaner industry.

“Multitasking, throughput, efficiency — these are excellent machine concepts,” said the American computer programmer and author Ellen Ullman. “But are they principles that nurture human thought and imagination?” The answer is yes for machine shops, which are diversifying into new product areas to grow more resilient but, in doing so, must deal with a wider range of tough materials. Here, Gaetano Massimo Pittalà, PhD, Principal R&D Engineer at the Solid Round Tools Business Unit, Sandvik Coromant, explains how its CoroMill® Dura solid carbide end mills can help manufacturers diversify with optimal throughput and efficiency.

According to McKinsey and Company, “The COVID-19 crisis, post pandemic economic effects, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine have exposed the vulnerabilities of today’s global supply chains.” To gain resilience in this era of uncertainty, manufacturers are diversifying in order to survive. For example, one Sandvik Coromant customer in the US has diversified from general engineering into other sectors like aerospace, defence and medical, to a point where no one customer or industry is more than 25% of its total business.

In cases like this, diversification entails producing new and previously-unfamiliar components to tight tolerances. But the challenges don’t end there. According to another McKinsey and Company report, “Delivering products at the right time, the right quality, and the lowest cost is no longer enough.” The report continues that, “Organizations now need networks with the resilience to tolerate shocks and the agility to respond to demanding customers and fast-changing markets,” and must achieve this with, “environmental and social sustainability.”

However, diversification also means machining a wider range of difficult-to-machine materials like aluminium, titanium and Inconel. How can machine shops overcome these challenges while also realising the objective’s outlined in McKinsey and Company’s report? The answer lies in better tools together with machine tools.

Eliminating vibrations
First, let’s look more closely at the machining challenges. As written in an analysis of system parameters for machining tough materials by The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, “Vibration is more prone to occur in milling titanium due to self-excited vibrations (i.e. chatter) between the workpiece and cutting tool,” which also applies to other difficult-to-machine materials like aluminium and Inconel.

Vibrations during the machining process have several negative consequences. They include degraded surface finishes on the component; and extra wear on the cutting edges and unpredictable wear patterns of the cutting tool. Vibrations negatively impact overall machining security and can lead to increased energy usage, costs and component quality.

Naturally, these problems are exacerbated in machine shops handling different materials as part of a diversification strategy. So, what can be done? This was the challenge Sandvik Coromant’s R&D team faced: to produce a complete range of solid carbide end mills that can eliminate vibrations while being very versatile in terms of application and materials. The range must be easy to use, while outperforming competitors’ tools in terms of productivity and tool life.

To this end, Sandvik Coromant developed CoroMill® Dura. The range comprises several solid carbide end mills, including sold carbide end mills of different lengths, diameters and designs with two, three, four, five and seven flutes. In addition, the range relies on a new patented technology from Sandvik Coromant called WhisperKutTM, which has been developed to significantly break up harmonics, while also reducing chatter and vibrations.

The WhisperKutTM technology is notable for its asymmetrical variable Helix design. It’s long been known that optimized flute spacing, along with other aspects of an end mill’s design, can greatly reduce vibrations and chatter in machining. But, with WhisperKutTM technology, each cutting flute is oriented at a different helix angle, relative to all the remaining flutes, which allows good stability and effectiveness in eliminating harmful harmonics. Because each flute is unequally spaced from the others, this reduces the constant harmonics typically produced with conventional end mills.

Because of this, CoroMill® Dura solid carbide end mills, equipped with the WhisperKutTM technology, are designed to be a one for all tooling solution. The end mills can be used in all processes needed to produce a component ― including roughing, finishing, semi-finishing and ramping. However, it was also necessary to assess whether CoroMill® Dura could outperform competitors’ mills in terms of productivity and tool life.

Versatile performance
The performance of CoroMill® Dura was then assessed in a side milling operation versus a competitor’s carbide end mill. First, for machining a DIN 42CrMo4 chromium-molybdenum steel ISO P workpiece and, second, for machining an AISI 304 stainless steel ISO M workpiece.

The DIN 42CrMo4 workpiece had an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 95 kg/mm2 and a Rockwell hardness (HRC) of 39. The tools’ diameter (D) measured 12.7 millimeters (mm) with a stickout, which means the distance from the tip of the tool to where the tool shank goes into the tool holder, of 33 to 40 mm.

Each tool’s performance was assessed on the total volume of material (cm3) removed from the workpiece. For a maximum material removal rate (MRR), the tools were run at a cutting speed (vc) of 150/60 m/min, a feed per tooth (fz) of 0.04 to 0.1 mm/tooth; with an axial depth of cut (ap) of 1 x D and radial depth of cut (ae) of 0.5 x D. The tools ran for a maximum of 60 minutes and coolant was applied.

Different cutting data was used for the AISI 304 workpiece, which included a vc of 80/40 m/min, an fz of 0.05 mm/tooth, an ap of 1 x D and ae of 0.5 x D. Again, the tools were run for a maximum of 60 minutes and coolant was applied.
In the end, when side milling the DIN 42CrMo4 workpiece, CoroMill® Dura gave a more than 25% improved performance over the competing solid carbide end mill, and a more than 20% improved performance when side milling AISI 304. Sandvik Coromant also tested CoroMill® Dura against a previous-generation tool from its own range, and found the newer tool be overall stronger on competitiveness, price and performance.

Based on these tests, CoroMill® Dura is proven to be a high performance tool for versatile applications. It’s well suited to the needs of machine shops that are seeking to branch out into new industry segments, or increase their focus on small batch production. With these more advanced tools, machine shops can, to paraphrase Ellen Ullman, help machine shops gain resilience with the utmost throughput and efficiency ― while also nurturing human thought and imagination.

Milling challenging materials like tough steels, stainless steels, superalloys and titanium cause built-up or notched edges and broken inserts that increase tooling costs and cause unexpected downtime. To overcome these challenging ISO P, M and S materials, the new next-generation Seco High Feed SP milling system features a combination of dedicated cutting geometries and insert grades, as well as optimized lead angles, that combine to boost material removal rates, maximize chip evacuation and extend tool life.

Reduce tooling inventories
Packed with versatility, one High Feed SP tool handles a complete range of high-feed milling operations and materials. The tool optimizes such operations as copy milling, ramping, pocketing, face milling and plunging to further reduce tooling inventories. Users optimize milling performance while eliminating the need to switch among numerous tools to implement various machining strategies and part materials.

“Premature tool wear increases job costs and leads to unexpected machine downtime that lengthens production time,” said Benoît Patriarca, Global Product Manager High Feed Milling at Seco Tools. “The combination of dedicated cutting geometries and grades with optimized leading angles of the High Feed SP system allow for faster machining to shorten job turnaround times, while also providing a superior price-to-performance ratio.”

Avoid downtime and scrapped parts
Designed for ease of use, the robust High Feed SP milling tools provide simple foolproof insert indexing that prevents operator mistakes, unexpected machine downtime and scrapped parts. Plus, users can quickly access product information through the Seco data matrix code scanning.

Seco offers a comprehensive range of High Feed SP tool sizes. The range includes:

•  SP10: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 32 to 63mm + inch equivalents
•  SP14: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 50 to 100mm + inch equivalents
•  SP18: two geometries, 10 grades, dia 63 to 160mm + inch equivalents