my understanding is the material is actually a sintered combination of carbon and tungsten which forms tungsten-carbide particles.
Machine tool cutters are formed by combining the particles with a softer cobalt (sometimes with nickel) matrix. The result is "cemented carbide".
mike
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--- In 7x12minilathe@..., Leo Cormier <leocor@...> wrote:
"The green wheels don't actually grind the carbide, they pull little pieces of carbide away & grind the binder."
What binder? Carbide is a sintered material, which means that tiny pieces of carbide (almost powder) are compressed under great force and heated until it binds together as one piece.
As far as "pull little pieces of carbide away" goes, that is exactly what grinding is.
I spent 12 years in vary large machine shops (in shipyards) and we always used the green wheel to rough the brazed carbide tools and the wet diamond wheel to put a polish on just the carbide part of the tool. In a pinch, you can get by without the diamond.
Leo
