Development of mould for self fabricated ceramic cutting tools

This paper introduces the development of mould for fabrication of ceramic cutting tool. The mould that produced involved with main parts divided by the core, cavity and ejector. To produce the mould, cylindrical shape of carbon steel was machined according to the required dimensions, assisted by the CADCAM software. Alumina-zirconia based powders were then processed and inserted into the designated mould in order to evaluate the accuracy and functionality of the mould. The results show that the mould capable to fabricate the green compact of the alumina-zirconia powder with 13% offset of thermal shrinkage. Further test of the sintered alumina-zirconia insert demonstrated the capability of the mould to produce the self-fabricated ceramic cutting tool for the machining operation.