stories on hard material matters - Ceratizit S.A.

Three highly modern complete automated production lines in the huge 100,000 sq.m. hall.
Mr Szathmári, what is important in the machining of
crankshafts?
Szathmári: “Two thirds of production relate to the 3.0
TDI engine. The crankshafts for this engine are made of
42CrMoS4. Rough machining of this crankshaft represents
a difficult task as it consists of a high-tensile material
at the limit to soft machining. The hard forging skin
virtually ‘eats away’ the tool.”
What does that mean for the tools?
Szathmári: “The blank crankshaft is irregular and shows
varying properties and the surface is not homogeneous.
This means hard and irregular strain on the insert.”
How long does an insert last?
Szathmári: “When rough machining (rough milling of
main bearing and webs) the inserts are mounted on a
KURBELWELLENBEARBEITUNG BEI AUDI UNGARN
Interview with Zoltán Szathmári, production planning
and tooling technology at Audi Hungaria
planetary milling cutter or side and face milling cutter.
After around 250 crankshafts the inserts in the milling
cutter have to be indexed.”
How do you assess the relationship with CERATIZIT?
Szathmári: “We have been working together with
CERATIZIT for four years and maintain a very open
relationship, there are no secrets. For every new
development we are informed precisely about what
has been improved. CERATIZIT is in a continuous
optimization process and is aware that coming to a
standstill is dangerous, because the pressure is high:
every year we invite tenders for the inserts, every year
there are new test procedures and CERATIZIT has to
assert itself. We have been very successful for four
years.”
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