Optimize Your Manufacturing Capabilities

Keep your CNC, milling, or manufacturing operation running smoothly with high-quality, long-lasting cutting tool inserts from Romay Corp. Our locally and family-owned company has been in the cutting tool insert business since 1977. It is our superior, proven quality over many types of applications that have anchored our position in the industrial cutting tool marketplace.

Why Get Your Cutting Tool Inserts From Romay Corp?

• Top-quality cutting tool inserts
• Decades of reliable, high-level insert performance
• Knowledgeable technical support
• Competitive pricing
• Inventory of over 200,000 inserts in stock for immediate delivery
• Products shipped the same day
• Overnight shipping available

Our cutting tool inserts can be shipped immediately to anywhere in the world. We accept blanket orders for up to one year in length. Our minimum blanket insert order is very low, starting at 10 units.

Our cutting tool inserts routinely save your customers money while increasing their overall manufacturing efficiency. We’re proud that our inserts are helping in “Setting New Standards in Productivity” for the industry.

Where Can You Run Ceramic and Silicon Nitride Inserts?

Silicon Nitride Inserts (SiN)

Silicon nitride inserts can be used in almost all iron applications, including cast, ductile, nodular, and more. You can do roughing and finishing in turning, boring, facing, and milling. The SiN insert will last longer, run faster, and give you a better finish than coated tungsten carbide. Our SiN generally outperforms any other competitor’s SiN, especially our CC-516 and CC-514 grades.

Our CC-5477 SiN grade works well in the roughing and finishing of aerospace metals, including Inconel, Waspaloy, Hastelloy, and others.

Our CC-516, CC-515, and CC-510 SiN grade inserts can also rough in hardened steel above Rc58.

Black/White Ceramic Inserts (B/WC)

Our black/white inserts can be utilized in almost all iron and steel applications and you can use either ceramic to do finishing operations. These inserts can be run at faster speeds, will last longer, and give a better surface finish than coated carbide inserts.

Where B/WC can work for finishing in irons, they will, generally, work better than even the SiN and be less expensive.

In steels, most customers are finishing in coated carbide inserts, but B/WC inserts can run faster, last longer, and give a much better surface finish than coated carbides. In many applications, the B/WC has replaced grinding operations.

In steels above Rc58, you can rough with SiN and finish with the black ceramic insert, or the gold-coated black ceramic insert. In many cases, you can replace grinding operations.

In many powdered metal operations, you can use the B/WC inserts for finishing.

For specific examples, please view our test reports.

Additional Information About Our Cutting Tool Insert Materials

Cemented Carbide

Cemented carbide inserts are stable and moderately expensive. Cemented carbide is the most common insert material used in the industry today. It is offered in several grades” containing different proportions of tungsten carbide and binder (usually cobalt).

Cement carbide offers high resistance to abrasion. Its high solubility in iron requires the addition of tantalum carbide and niobium carbide for steel usage. Its main use is in turning tool bits, although it is very common in milling cutters and saw blades. It has a hardness level of up to about HRC 90, and sharp edges are generally not recommended.

Ceramic

Ceramic inserts are stable and moderately expensive. Chemically inert and extremely resistant to heat, ceramics are usually desirable in high-speed cutting tool applications, the only drawback being their high fragility. Ceramic inserts are considered unpredictable under unfavorable conditions.

The most common ceramic materials are based on alumina (aluminum oxide), silicon nitride, and silicon carbide. Ceramic inserts are used almost exclusively on turning tool bits, with a hardness level of up to about HRC 93. Sharp cutting edges and positive rake angles are to be avoided with ceramic inserts.

Cermet

Cermet inserts are stable and moderately expensive. Cermet is another cemented material that's based on titanium carbide (TiC) with a binder that's usually nickel. It provides higher abrasion resistance compared to tungsten carbide at the expense of some toughness. This insert is far more chemically inert than it, too.

Cermet offers an extremely high resistance to abrasion and is used primarily on turning tool bits although research is being carried out on producing other cutting tools. It has a hardness level of up to about HRC 93, and sharp edges generally are not recommended.

Silicon Nitride

The first major application of silicon nitride was in abrasive and cutting tools. Bulk, monolithic silicon nitride is used as a material for cutting tools, due to its hardness, thermal stability, and wear resistance. It is especially recommended for high-speed machining of cast iron.

Hot hardness, fracture toughness, and thermal shock resistance mean that sintered silicon nitride inserts can cut cast iron, hard steel, and nickel-based alloys with surface speeds up to 25 times quicker than those obtained with conventional insert materials such as tungsten carbide.

The use of silicon nitride inserts and cutting tools has had a dramatic effect on manufacturing output and productivity. For example, face milling of gray cast iron with silicon nitride inserts doubles the cutting speed, increases tool life from one part to six parts per edge, and reduces the average cost of inserts by 50%, as compared to traditional tungsten carbide inserts.