Inconel

The Inconel tool series is engineered to conquer the most demanding superalloys, including Inconel grades such as 718, 625, and 939, as well as materials like Hastelloy, Titanium and all other Nickel-chromium-based superalloy's. These alloys are known for their extreme strength at high temperatures, and equally for the machining challenges they present. Our tools are specifically developed to overcome those challenges with ease.

Equipped with advanced high-performance coatings and cutting geometries optimized for heat resistance, the Inconel tools provide superior chip control, reduced cutting forces, and exceptional wear resistance. Even under extreme heat, pressure, and interrupted cuts, these tools maintain outstanding stability and precision.

A key advantage of the Inconel tool line is its significantly longer tool life compared to standard solutions. Thanks to ultra-durable substrates, heat-resistant coatings, and optimized edge preparation, the tools retain their cutting performance over extended machining cycles, reducing tool changes, downtime, and overall machining costs.

When machining difficult superalloys, consistency is everything, and Inconel tools deliver unmatched accuracy, reliability, and productivity, even in the harshest cutting environments.

Details on Inconel

Inconel® is the trade name for a family of Nickel-chromium-based superalloy's developed to maintain strength, structural integrity and corrosion resistance under extreme thermal and mechanical loads. These alloys are widely used in aerospace, energy, chemical processing and oil & gas applications, particularly in components exposed to high temperatures, pressure and aggressive environments such as turbine parts, heat exchangers, fasteners and high-performance valves. In service, Inconel delivers exceptional reliability, but from a machining standpoint it is considered one of the most demanding materials encountered on the shopfloor.

The difficulty in machining Inconel is rooted in its metallurgical design. The nickel matrix retains very high strength at elevated temperatures and resists softening during cutting, which results in consistently high cutting forces. At the same time, Inconel exhibits low thermal conductivity, causing heat to concentrate at the cutting edge rather than being carried away by the chip. This combination leads to extreme thermal and mechanical loading of the tool, accelerating wear mechanisms such as notch wear, crater wear and edge deformation. In addition, Inconel alloys are highly prone to work hardening, meaning that any hesitation, dwell time or re-cutting immediately produces a hardened surface layer that is even more difficult to machine on the next pass.

Different Inconel grades can vary in hardness and strength, but they share a common machining behaviour: they punish unstable processes. Whether machining solution-annealed or precipitation-hardened conditions, the material demands a cutting strategy that is decisive and stable. Light cuts, rubbing or interrupted engagement rapidly degrade tool life, while vibration can cause catastrophic edge failure in a very short time. Even at relatively modest cutting speeds, tool temperatures rise quickly, making edge integrity and heat resistance far more critical than nominal hardness alone.

Successful machining of Inconel therefore depends on maintaining control rather than chasing productivity through speed. Sharp cutting edges, optimized geometries that reduce cutting forces, rigid setups and consistent chip formation are essential. Coolant delivery plays a critical role in managing heat and preventing thermal shock, while cutting parameters must be chosen to stay ahead of work hardening rather than react to it. In many high-end applications, machining is carefully combined with alternative processes such as forging, additive manufacturing or near-net-shape production to minimize the amount of material that must be cut.

For tooling specialists like us, Inconel represents a benchmark material: unforgiving, heat-intensive and demanding absolute process stability. Developing tools that can survive and perform in Inconel is not about marginal gains, but about engineering solutions that withstand sustained heat, pressure and wear. Mastery of Inconel machining is therefore not just a technical achievement, but a clear demonstration of capability at the highest level of modern manufacturing.