Investigation on Some Machinability Aspects of Inconel 825 During Dry Turning

In the current study, attempt has been made to investigate the influence of cutting speed (Vc) (51, 84, and 124 m/min) on various machining characteristics like chip morphology, chip thickness ratio, tool wear, surface, and sub-surface integrity during dry turning of Inconel 825. Comparable study was carried out using uncoated and commercially available chemical vapor deposition multilayer coated (TiN/TiCN/Al₂O₃/ZrCN) cemented carbide (ISO P30 grade) insert. Chip morphology consists of chip forms obtained at different cutting conditions. Serrated chips were observed when machining Inconel 825 with both types of tool with more serration in case of uncoated insert. The chip thickness ratio increased as cutting speed was increased. Use of multilayer coated tool also resulted in increase in chip thickness ratio. Rake and flank surfaces were examined with scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. Abrasion, adhesion, and diffusion wears were found to be dominating tool wear mechanism during dry machining of Inconel 825. The beneficial effect of coated tool over its uncoated counterpart was most prominent during machining at high cutting speed (Vc = 124 m/min). The surface and sub-surface integrity obtained with coated tool were superior to that while machining Inconel 825 with uncoated tool.     

Comparative investigation towards machinability improvement in hard turning using coated and uncoated carbide inserts: part I experimental investigation

The investigation of low cost uncoated and coated carbide insert in the hard turning of hardened AISI D2 steel (≥55 HRC) will definitely open up a new arena as an economical alternative suitable to industrial machining sectors. Thus, this paper reports the comparative machinability assessment for the hard turning of AISI D2 steel ((55 ±1) HRC) by coated and uncoated carbide insert in a dry environment. Micro hardness and abrasion tests were carried out to assess resistance capability against wear. The above test results confirmed the greater wear resistance ability of Al₂O₃ coated carbide insert over uncoated carbide. Based on the extensive investigation of comparative machinability, the coated carbide insert (TiN-TiCN-Al₂O₃) outperformed the uncoated carbide insert with regard to surface roughness, flank wear, chip-tool interface temperature, and chip morphology. Abrasion and diffusion were observed as the principal tool wear mechanisms in the investigated range. The uncoated carbide failed completely due to the severe chipping and quick dulling of the cutting edge, which led to its unsuitability for machining hardened steel. The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-018-0215-z     

Comparison of tool life and surface characteristics of uncoated,coated carbide and ceramic tools during machining of SiC reinforced ZA43 alloy MMC

Abstract

In the present investigation, machinability issues of zinc–aluminium (ZA43) alloy reinforced with silicon carbide particles (SiC) were evaluated. The fabrication of composite was done through liquid metallurgy technique. Metal matrix composite (MMC) was subjected to turning using conventional lathe with three grades of cutting tools, namely, uncoated carbide tool, coated carbide tool and ceramic tool. Surface roughness and tool wear were measured during the machining process. Results reveal that roughness increases with increase in the reinforcement concentration and particle size. Feed has direct influence on roughness, i.e. surface deteriorates with higher feeds. Depth of cut has very minimum effect on the surface roughness, while inverse effect of cutting speed on the roughness was observed (i.e. increase in the cutting speed leads to better finish on the specimen). Tool wear was studied during the investigation, and it was noticed that MMC with higher reinforcement concentration and particle size cause severe wear on the flank of the cutting tool. Increase in the cutting speed, feed and depth of cut also increases the flank wear on the tool. Out of all the three grades of tools, coated carbide tool outperformed uncoated carbide and ceramic tools.     

Cuttability Investigation of Coated Carbides

The cutting performance of CVD-Ti(C,N)/Al₂O₃(Tl), CVD-Ti(C,N)/Al₂O₃/ TiN(T2) and PVD-TiN(T3) coated inserts was investigated in the dry turning of a low alloy steel. The PVD-TiN single-layer coated insert presented a better cutting performance based on wear and material removal indices than the CVD multilayer coated inserts at low feed rate. At high feed rate, it was the CVD-Ti(C,N)/Al₂O₃ coated insert that gave the best cutting performance. While excessive nose wear and plastic deformation limited the tool lives of Tl and T2, it was chipping/fracture for T3. Cutting temperature was deduced to have more effect on chip serrations than did degree of work hardening; with PVD-TiN inducing the highest degree of work hardening and lowest cutting temperature. Microstructural evidence also suggested brittle deformation and dissolution/diffusion as the wear mechanisms on T3, and plastic deformation, interfacial, and surface fatigue cracks were the observed phenomena for Tl and T2.     

Experimental investigations on cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen in the end milling of hardened steel

Milling of hardened steel generates excessive heat during the chip formation process, which increases the temperature of cutting tool and accelerates tool wear. Application of conventional cutting fluid in milling process may not effectively control the heat generation also it has inherent health and environmental problems. To minimize health hazard and environmental problems caused by using conventional cutting fluid, a cryogenic cooling set up is developed to cool tool–chip interface using liquid nitrogen (LN₂). This paper presents results on the effect of LN₂ as a coolant on machinability of hardened AISI H13 tool steel for varying cutting speed in the range of 75–125 m/min during end milling with PVD TiAlN coated carbide inserts at a constant feed rate. The results show that machining with LN₂ lowers cutting temperature, tool flank wear, surface roughness and cutting forces as compared with dry and wet machining. With LN₂ cooling, it has been found that the cutting temperature was reduced by 57–60% and 37–42%; the tool flank wear was reduced by 29–34% and 10–12%; the surface roughness was decreased by 33–40% and 25–29% compared to dry and wet machining. The cutting forces also decreased moderately compared to dry and wet machining. This can be attributed to the fact that LN₂ machining provides better cooling and lubrication through substantial reduction in the cutting zone temperature.     

Environment Friendly Machining of Ni–Cr–Co Based Super Alloy using Different Sustainable Techniques

In order to eradicate the use of mineral based cutting fluid, the machining of Ni–Cr–Co based Nimonic 90 alloy was conducted using environment friendly sustainable techniques. In this work, uncoated tungsten carbide inserts were employed for the machining under dry (untreated and cryogenically treated), MQL, and cryogenic cutting modes. The influence of all these techniques was examined by considering tool wear, surface finish, chip contact length, chip thickness, and chip morphology. It was found that the cryogenically treated tools outperformed the untreated tools at 40 m/min. At cutting speed of 80 m/min, MQL and direct cooling with liquid nitrogen brought down the flank wear by 50% in comparison to dry machining. Similarly at higher cutting speed, MQL and cryogenic cooling techniques provided the significant improvement in terms of nose wear, crater wear area, and chip thickness value. However, both dry and MQL modes outperformed the cryogenic cooling machining in terms of surface roughness value at all the cutting speeds. Overall cryotreated tools was able to provide satisfactory results at lower speed (40 m/min). Whereas both MQL and cryogenic cooling methods provided the significantly improved results at higher cutting speeds (60 and 80 m/min) over dry machining.     

Modelling the orthogonal machining process using coated carbide cutting tools

In this paper finite element methods were used to determine the influence of various coated and uncoated tungsten carbide cutting tools on the machining of a nickel-based super alloy Inconel 718. Disposable coated and uncoated carbide inserts were used both experimentally and as FEA models to study how the stress distribution within different coatings and carbide grades compared to each other, under a range of cutting conditions. Simulation of an orthogonal metal cutting process was performed using FORGE2, an elasto-visco plastic FEA code. All FE models were assumed to be plane strain. The results include the stress and temperature distributions through the primary shear zone, the chip/tool contact region and the coating/substrate boundaries. The tool wear and stress results from the FE modelling agree favourably with those obtained from experimental work.     

Development of ANFIS model and machinability study on dry turning of cryo-treated PH stainless steel with various inserts

This present investigation deals about the machinability comparison of cryogenically treated 15-5 PH stainless steel with various cutting tools such as uncoated tungsten carbide, cryogenic-treated tungsten carbide and wiper geometry inserts. Cryo-treated PH stainless steel is considered as the work material in this investigation and experimental trials were performed under dry turning condition. The machinability aspects considered for evaluation are cutting force (F_z), surface roughness (R_a) and tool wear. The outcomes of experimentation reveal that the tungsten carbide inserts which are cryogenically treated provide improved performance in machining while comparing with conventional and wiper geometry inserts at all machining conditions. The measured cutting force and the observed flank wear were less for the cryo-treated inserts. However, wiper tool produces a better surface finish during machining. An artificial intelligence decision-making tool named Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System has been evolved to determine the relation among the considered input machining variables and output measures, namely cutting force and surface roughness of the machined surface. An analysis has been performed to compare the results obtained from developed models and experimental results.     

Influence of melt treatments and polished CVD diamond coated insert on cutting force and surface integrity in turning of Al-7Si and Al-7Si-2.5Cu cast alloys

The microstructures, machinability and surface characteristics of Al-7Si and Al-7Si-2.5Cu cast alloys were studied after various melt treatments like grain refinement and modification. The results indicate that combined grain refined and modified Al-7Si-2.5Cu cast alloys have microstructures consisting of uniformly distributed α-Al grains, eutectic Al-silicon and fine CuAl₂ particles in the interdendritic region. These alloys exhibited better machinability and surface characteristics in the cast condition compared with the same alloy subjected to only grain refinement or modification. Performances of the turning inserts (uncoated and polished CVD diamond coated) were evaluated in machining Al-7Si and Al-7Si-2.5Cu cast alloys under dry environment using a lathe. The polished CVD diamond coated insert outperformed the uncoated cutting insert which suffered from sizeable edge buildup leading to higher cutting force and poor surface finish. The polished CVD diamond coated insert shows a very small steady wear without flaking of the diamond film during cutting. This paper attempts to investigate the influence of grain refinement, modification and combined action of both on the microstructural changes in the Al-7Si and Al-7Si-2.5Cu cast alloys and their machinability and surface finish when different turning inserts are used.     

Tool life and surface integrity when milling inconel 718 with coated cemented carbide tools

Abstract

This paper presents a study of tool life and surface integrity while machining superalloy Inconel 718 using coated cemented carbide tools. In the machining of heat resistant superalloys used in aeronautical applications and classified as difficult‐to‐machine, tool life is an important parameter in evaluating the performance of the cutting tools. Surface quality of the workpiece is one of the important criteria in determining tool life. Our tests have been done under various combinations of speed, feed rate, and depth of cut to verify the change in surface roughness due to increasing tool wear. The behavior of the uncoated, TiN, and TiCN layers using various cutting conditions was analyzed. At the end, a choice of coating and optimization of the cutting conditions has been proposed.     

Experimental studies on the cryogenic machining of biodegradable ZK60 Mg alloy using micro-textured tools

Reducing the contact area between the cutting tool rake surface and chip promotes the machining performance of the work material and increases the tool life. Magnesium alloys are ductile-lightweight materials that form continuous chips during machining. The present investigation discusses the orthogonal turning of ZK60 magnesium alloy with linearly textured cutting inserts under both dry and liquid nitrogen (LN₂) cooling conditions. Linear grooves that are parallel and perpendicular to chip flow direction were created using Nd-YAG laser on the tungsten carbide cutting inserts. The effect of texturing combined with the application of LN₂ cooling is studied by evaluating the machining temperature and forces, microhardness, surface roughness and tool wear. Textured tools considerably minimize the liaison area of the chip with the rake plane compared to non-textured tools, which resulted in favorable effects in machinability. In case of cryogenic machining, textured tools substantially minimize the friction by the coupled effect of micro-pool lubrication and the formation of thin-film lubrication between the tool–chip/tool–work interfaces. Parallel-textured tools aided with cryogenic cooling exhibit superior performance during machining among the different types of tools employed in the present investigation.     

Study of deformation zone effects of low,conventional, high and very high speed machining

The paper deals with cutting speed in range 3 m?min^‐1 up to 2200 m?min^‐1 and its complex impact mainly on chip macroscopic shape, chip microstructure, chip compression, tool wear, tool life and machined surface quality and interprets and compares the effects regarding low, conventional, high and very high speed machining based on the dry turning of carbon steel by sintered carbide coated by titanium nitride and ceramic cutting inserts. The deformation zone response for different cutting speeds at the tool‐chip‐workpiece interfaces and their effect on tool wear were studied. The extensive (so called complete) experiments within wide range of values and large number of measurements were carried out. The formation of secondary chip occurring in high speed turning is reported. Moreover, the paper analyses the total machining time involving tool replacement time in terms of high speed machining regarding the obtained experimental results.     

Cutting Performance and Wear Mechanism of Multilayer Diamond-Coated Tools

Monolayer and multilayer diamond films are deposited on WC-Co cemented carbide by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition. The growth characteristics of diamond coatings are analyzed. Cutting performance characteristics such as tool life and the stability of machining process in the machining of presintered ZrO₂ are compared based on the variation of cutting speed and resultant cutting force, and workpiece surface roughness. For the monolayer diamond coatings, as the concentration of CH₄ increases from 1% to 5%, the diamond crystal is transformed from micron columnar crystal to nanocluster crystal. The multilayer diamond coatings combine the advantages of micron- and nanocrystalline structures. The multilayer diamond-coated tool exhibits longer service life and better machining quality. Because of the appearance of the brittle–plastic conversion mechanism, the surface integrity of ZrO₂ processed by multilayer diamond-coated tool is relatively high. As for the uncoated tool, the workpiece is mainly machined by brittle spalling. The interfacial stratified fracture system between the interlayers is proposed to be the toughening mechanism of the multilayer structure.     

Cryogenic turning of the Ti–6Al–4V alloy with modified cutting tool inserts

Productivity in the machining of titanium alloys is adversely affected by rapid tool wear as a consequence of high cutting zone temperature. Conventional cutting fluids are ineffective in controlling the cutting temperature in the cutting zone. In this research work, an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of liquid nitrogen when it is applied to the rake surface, and the main and auxiliary flank surfaces through holes made in the cutting tool insert during the turning of the Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The cryogenic results of the cutting temperature, cutting forces, surface roughness and tool wear of the modified cutting tool insert have been compared with those of wet machining. It has been observed that in the cryogenic cooling method, the cutting temperature was reduced by 61–66% and the surface roughness was reduced to a maximum of 36% over wet machining. The cutting force was decreased by 35–42% and the flank wear was reduced by 27–39% in cryogenic cooling over that of wet machining. Cryogenic cooling enabled a substantial reduction in the geometry of tool wear through the control of the tool wear mechanisms. The application of liquid nitrogen to the heat generation zones through holes made in the cutting tool insert was considered to be more effective over conventional machining.     

High-speed turning experiments on metal matrix composites

The hard abrasive ceramic component which increases the mechanical characteristics of metal matrix composites (MMC) causes quick wear and premature tool failure in the machining operations. The aim of the paper is to compare the behaviour of high rake angle carbide tools with their diamond coated versions in high-speed machining of an Al₂O₃Al 6061 MMC. The influence of the cutting parameters, in particular cutting feed and speed, on tool wear and surface finish has been investigated. The higher abrasion resistance of the coatings results in increased tool life performances and different chip formation mechanisms.     

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond coated tools performance in machining of PEEK composites

This paper presents a study about the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond coated tool performance in machining unreinforced PEEK and composite PEEK CF30 (reinforced with 30% of carbon fibres).

The experimental procedure consisted of turning operations, during which cutting forces and surface roughness obtained in composite workpieces were measured.

The obtained results showed a best cutting performance for CVD diamond coated tool in machining PEEK composites, particularly in terms of cutting forces and power consumption, when compared with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and cemented carbide (K10) cutting tools. This fact is very important due to the minor production costs of CVD diamond coated tools in comparison with PCD tools.     

Chemically vapour deposited diamond coatings on cemented tungsten carbides: Substrate pretreatments, adhesion and cutting performance

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of diamond films onto Co-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) tools and wear parts presents several problems due to interfacial graphitization induced by the binder phase and thermal expansion mismatch of diamond and WC-Co. Methods used to improve diamond film adhesion include substrate-modification processes that create a three-dimensional compositionally graded interface. This paper reviews substrate pretreatments and adhesion issues of chemically vapour deposited diamond films on WC-Co. The combined effect of pretreatments and substrate microstructure on the adhesive toughness and wear rate of CVD diamond in dry machining of highly abrasive materials was analyzed. The role of diamond film surface morphology on chip evacuation in dry milling of ceramics was also investigated by comparing feed forces of coated and uncoated mills. The overall tribological performance of diamond coated mills depended on coating microstructure and smoothness. The use of smother films did allow to reduce cutting forces by facilitating chip evacuation.     

Comparing the Effectiveness of Coatings on Carbide andCermet Cutting Tool Inserts

A series of metal cutting experiments was performed on a CNC lathe to evaluate the performance of various coatings on different tool substrates. The workpiece material was plain medium carbon steel and the cutting tool materials were carbide and cermet inserts coated with various single as well as multilayer coatings. Machining was done under various cutting conditions of speed and feed-rate, and for various durations of Cutting. The output parameters studied were the cutting forces (axial, radial and tangential), the surface roughness of the workpiece, as well as the tool wear (crater and flank wear). From these results, the performances of the various cutting inserts are evaluated and compared. Results show that cutting forces are significantly lower when using coated cermets than when using coated carbides although different coatings on the same substrate also result in different cutting forces. However, there is less difference in the surface roughness of the finished workpiece for the various coatings and substrates.     

Effect of physical vapor deposited bilayer (AlCrN + TiAlN) coating on high-speed steel single point cutting tool

This paper presents the investigation of hardness, tool weight loss percentage, surface roughness, surface morphology and tool worn-out morphology of high-speed steel (HSS) single point cutting tool and aluminum chromium nitride and titanium aluminum nitride (AlCrN +TiAlN) bilayer coated HSS tool. The two tools with predetermined geometries were analyzed in the same machining conditions at the same center lathe. The results identified that the weight loss percentage of the bilayer coated tool was less when compared with the uncoated tool. Additionally, the hardness of the bilayer coated tool was greater than the uncoated tool. Surface roughness of the bilayer coated tool was lower than the uncoated tool and tool wear was less for the bilayer coated tool when compared to the uncoated tool.     

Mechanical micro-drilling of nimonic 80A superalloy using uncoated and TiAlN-coated micro-drills

Micro-drilling is a complex mechanical machining process. Micro-drilling experiences an early tool damage which is a major drawback for nickel-based superalloy. This paper examines the wear condition on the micro-tool cutting edge, surface roughness of machined holes, and hole diameter analysis in micro-drilling of Nimonic 80A, using two types of micro-drills (uncoated and TiAlN coated) with 0.79?mm diameter. Micro-drilling tests, using cutting speed (V_c), feed rate (f_z), and the micro-drill diameter as experimental parameters were carried out to bring out the best optimized machining conditions in micro-drilling of Nimonic 80A. Wear on the tool cutting edge and burr height occurring at the entrance of drilled holes were measured at constant period to give the lastingness of micro-drill. Quality of holes were analyzed in terms of surface roughness inside the hole and the hole diameter after every five drilled holes. The result obtained from the above analysis showed that TiAlN-coated micro-drill performs way better than the uncoated micro-drill in terms of wear, surface roughness, hole quality, and burr. Thus, the above performed study gives the knowledge to select micro-tool for machining of Nimonic 80A which could be useful in the aerospace industry.