Tungsten carbide (also known as widia) knives / blades are characterised by unparalleled hardness. They are almost as hard as diamond, making them particularly suitable for industrial processes prone to wear.
The transformer manufacturing process involves cutting the magnetic lamination or silicon steel. Magnetic lamination or silicon steel is particularly abrasive, causing traditional steel knives to become blunt quickly. This rapid wear leads to the formation of burrs, with production downtime as a result.
When you choose a carbide (widia) knive / blade, you already increase the service life by a factor of ten to twenty. The drop in sharpening frequency is just as spectacular.
You can expect a quick return on the higher initial investment for the carbide knive / blade because of your machine’s increased efficiency. In addition, you get a higher quality end product because there is less burr formation.
Each knive blade used to cut transformer lamination ( silicon steel ) is 100% custom made by ICC. This means that for every machine – regardless of type and brand – we can deliver the suitable knive blade. We supply directly both transformer manufacturers and machine builders.
Such customization requires a great deal of expertise. For example, we braze a tungsten carbide strip from one part of the steel body. This technique allows us to guarantee that the carbide will bond extremely well to the steel, something that cannot be achieved with adhesives ( glued knives ).
Since there are no seams, unlike in screw-blades, for example, we eliminate any risk of frittering between the seams and markings on the cut plate.
Besides substantial savings, you will enjoy additional benefits when you order directly from the designer/manufacturer like ICC. For instance, there are more than thirty different types of tungsten- carbides. Choosing the right carbide is paramount. We analyse the technical situation, and we select the right type of carbide in relation to your application to prolong the service life of your equipment even further.
The long-term relationship we’ve built with our customers has helped us optimize the carbides grades over the years. This requires a delicate balancing act, where ICC’s long-standing experience in tungsten carbide plays a major role.
In addition to the knives used to cut the transformer lamination, we also supply the necessary punches, dies, and any other parts prone to wear. We also make these parts to order, based on the technical design submitted by the customer.