Widia

Logo of the registered word and image trademark

Widia cutting tips for lathes

Widia (derived from Wi e Dia mant ) is a registered brand name which was registered by the Krupp company on December 25, 1925 for a particularly hard composite material ( hard metal ). The brand name advanced to a generic name for hard metal tools ("Widia drill").

It is a sintered material made of tungsten carbide (hard material) and cobalt (binder), see also tungsten carbide-cobalt hard metals . After being taken over by the American Kennametal Group, the brand is now part of Kennametal Widia Produktions GmbH & Co. KG .

material

Widia is a composite material made of the hard component tungsten carbide and the binding agent cobalt . Tungsten carbide and cobalt are ground to a certain grain size and pressed into so-called green compacts in presses . These are sintered in ovens , ground using diamond-reinforced grinding wheels and, in some cases, coated to reduce wear .

history

The invention of sintered carbide dates back to 1926. Cast carbide has been known as Stellite since 1907. In Essen, the Krupp company developed the new carbide material for industrial use under the brand name Widia , from "(hard) wi e Dia mant". It was first presented in 1927 at the Leipzig spring fair. Widia is protected as a trademark in Germany under the registration numbers 705396, 470849 and 351828 and internationally under the registration numbers 319416 and 231656.

Companies

Kennametal Widia factory building in Essen

The Widia GmbH was after 65 years owned by the company Krupp 1994 American US to the manufacturer of machine tools Cincinnati Milacron sold. At the end of 2002 / beginning of 2003, Widia was sold on to the tool manufacturer competitor Kennametal from Pennsylvania (USA), who integrated the Widia Group into its European subsidiary Kennametal Hertel AG . Widia is currently called Kennametal Widia Produktions GmbH & Co. KG . In July 2019, the owner Kennametal announced that it would close the locations in Essen, Lichtenau and Irwin (Pennsylvania) as well as the logistics center in Neunkirchen in Saarland. The plan is to relocate production to plants in Tianjing, China, and Solon, USA. In January 2020, negotiations were held to retain the Essen production and logistics location, with a few cuts.

Widia GmbH has several manufacturing facilities and subsidiaries, including the former Sitzmann und Heinlein in Lichtenau , Franconia , sales offices in many countries around the world, and manufacturing plants in France and India . The head office is in Fürth , the main production site is still Essen in the Ruhr area . The production is located directly on the A40 motorway in the Essen-Holsterhausen district . Since the beginning of 2013, the Widia factory has also been listed in the Route of Industrial Culture, Themed Route Krupp and the City of Essen .

The company's main products are

Indexable inserts made of carbide for metal cutting, with and without coating,
the carrier tools used for this purpose (to screw or clamp the hard metal plates),
new types of coating for long tool life (zirconium coating - plasma CVD )
special tool applications for drilling, milling and turning. Widia drills are drills with a hard metal plate soldered ( brazed ) or embedded in the tip . This means that these drills are also suitable for drilling in brick walls and concrete. Drills, so-called "solid carbide drills", are also made from pure carbide. Until the early 1980s, Widia also manufactured carbide studs for winter tires.
In plan cutters (paper cutting machines), hard metal knives with 75 to 95 percent tungsten carbide are used.
as well as construction components made of hard metal for rock drilling and grinding technology and cutting and forming technology.