CUTTING TOOL AND METHOD OF SURFACE THERMAL HARDENING OF ITS CUTTING PART Russian patent published in 1999 - IPC

FIELD: cutting tools and heat treatment of tool cutting part by pulse electrical beam; may be used in manufacture of cutting tools in food, wood-working and other industries. SUBSTANCE: cutting tool has body 1 and cutting part 2 whose front surface 3 or rear surface 4 has hardened wear-resistance layer to a depth of 3-60 mcm with monotonous reducing microhardness to microhardness of material out of wear-resistant layer. The heat hardening of cutting part 2 of cutting tool is carried out as follows. Front surface 3 or rear surface 4 of cutting surface is heated with pulse electronic beam with time of exposure equalling 8•10^-6-8•10^-8 s, with energy density of (5-80)•10⁴ J/sq.m and electron energy of 0.1-1.0 MeV to obtain a wear-resistant layer 3-60 mcm deep. Heating for hardening may be executed for one pulse when treating clean surfaces, or by several pulses when treating contaminated surfaces or surfaces with high-degree roughness. EFFECT: provision of efficient self-sharpening of cutting edge for thin-blade cutting tools (3-60 mcm), provision of large area of treated surface for one pulse, and different depth of wear-resistant layer within 3-60 mcm and variable wear resistance of microhardness later in depth. 4 cl, 4 dwg