Tool wear, chip formation and workpiece surface issues in CBN hard turning: A review

Steel parts that carry critical loads in everything from automotive drive trains and jet engines to industrial bearings and metal-forming machinery are normally produced by a series of processes, including time-consuming and costly grinding and polishing operations. Due to the advent of super-hard materials such as polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) cutting tools and improved machine tool designs, hard turning has become an attractive alternative to grinding for steel parts. The potential of hard turning to eliminate the costs associated with additional finishing processes in conventional machining is appealing to industry. The objective of this paper, is to survey the recent research progress in hard turning with CBN tools in regard of tool wear, surface issues and chip formation. A significant pool of CBN turning studies has been surveyed in an attempt to achieve better understanding of tool wear, chip formation, surface finish, white layer formation, micro-hardness variation and residual stress on the basis of varying CBN content, binder, tool edge geometry, cooling methods and cutting parameters. Further important modeling techniques based on finite element, soft computing and other mathematical approaches used in CBN turning are reviewed. In conclusion, a summary of the CBN turning and modeling techniques is outlined and the scope of future work is presented.     

Tool crater wear depth modeling in CBN hard turning

Hard turning has been receiving increased attention because it offers many possible benefits over grinding in machining hardened steel. The wear of cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools, which are commonly used in hard turning, is an important issue that needs to be better understood. For hard turning to be a viable replacement technology, the high cost of CBN cutting tools and the cost of down-time for tool changing must be minimized. In addition to progressive flank wear, microchipping and tool breakage (which lead to early tool failure) are prone to occur under aggressive machining conditions due to significant crater wear and weakening of the cutting edge. The objective of this study is to model the CBN tool crater wear depth (K_T) to guide the design of CBN tool geometry and to optimize cutting parameters in finish hard turning. First, the main wear mechanisms (abrasion, adhesion, and diffusion) in hard turning are discussed and the associated wear volume loss models are developed as functions of cutting temperature, stress, and other process information. Then, the crater wear depth is predicted in terms of tool/work material properties and process information. Finally, the proposed model is experimentally validated in finish turning of hardened 52100 bearing steel using a low CBN content tool. The comparison between model predictions and experimental results shows reasonable agreement, and the results suggest that adhesion is the dominant wear mechanism within the range of conditions that were investigated.     

Air–Oil Cooling Method for Turning of Hardened Material

The hard turning process, defined as single-point turning of materials harder than HR C 58, differs from conventional turning because of the hardness of the work materials and cutting tools needed in the process. In hard turning, tool life is very short, of the order of a few minutes, during which time the cutting tool is subjected to extreme stress and tempera-ture. In this regard, it is well known that CBN tools are well suited for this process despite their high cost. In this research, we studied the feasibility of using lower-cost cutting tools such as TiN coated tools. To this end, a new cooling system was designed using an air–oil method, which is based on the principle of air vortex flow, for reducing tool temperature. In this system, the temperature of air at the outlet is lowered by more than 20°C using pressurised air of 5 kgf cm −2 at the inlet. The cooled air ejected at the tip of the cutting tool lowers tool temperature, and reduces the wear of a TiN coated tool to give 30% of CBN tool life with respect to the same cutting length.     

White layer formation and hardening effects in hard turning of H13 tool steel with CrTiAlN and CrTiAlN/MoST-coated carbide tools

White layers are hard, brittle and normally associated with a tensile stress and hence the ability to reduce the fatigue life of machined components. Several authors have reported the formation of white layers on components after turning processes by using CBN/PCBN and ceramic cutting tools. However, there are hardly any studies that have reported on white layer formation for new and low-cost-coated carbides. The study in this paper was conducted to determine the effect of CrTiAlN and CrTiAlN+MoST and high cutting speeds on white layer formation in machining tool steel. H13 tool steel (57 HRC) was examined after turning at a conventional and high cutting speed. Coated tools resulted in lower workpiece and tool temperatures. Hence coated tools resulted in reduced and also more homogeneous hardening effects compared to the uncoated tool. In addition, the higher cutting speed produced negligible white layers. Thus, the paper elucidates on the benefits of coatings on surface hardening in conventional and high speed machining.     

Tool life and wear mechanism of coated and uncoated Al2O3/TiCN mixed ceramic tools in turning hardened alloy steel

The focus of this paper is the continuous turning of hardened AISI 52100 (～63HRc) using coated and uncoated ceramic Al₂O₃–TiCN mixed inserts, which are cheaper than cubic boron nitride (CBN) or polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN). The machinability of hardened steel was evaluated by measurements of tool wear, tool life, and surface finish of the workpiece. Wear mechanisms and patterns of ceramic inserts in hard turning of hardened AISI 52100 are discussed. According to the results obtained, fracture and chipping type damages occur more frequently in uncoated tools, whereas crater wear is the more common type of damage in TiN coated tools. Most important result obtained from the study is that TiN coating and crater wear affect chip flow direction. In uncoated ceramic tool, the crater formation results in decrease of chip up-curl radius. Besides, uncoated cutting tool results in an increase in the temperature at the tool chip interface. This causes a thermal bi-metallic effect between the upper and lower sides of the chip that forces the chip to curl a smaller radius. Chips accumulate in front of the tool and stick to the workpiece depending on the length of the cutting time. This causes the surface quality to deteriorate. TiN coating not only ensures that the cutting tool is tougher, but also ensures that the surface quality is maintained during cutting processes.     

Performance evaluation of CBN,coated carbide,cryogenically treated uncoated/coated carbide inserts in finish-turning of hardened steel

In the present work, the performance of cubic boron nitride (CBN) inserts was compared with coated carbide and cryogenically treated coated/uncoated carbide inserts in terms of flank wear, surface roughness, white layer formation, and microhardness variation under dry cutting conditions for finish turning of hardened AISI H11 steel (48–49 HRC). The flank wear of CBN tools was observed to be lower than that of other inserts, but the accumulated machining time for all the four edges of carbide inserts were nearer to or better than the PCBN inserts. Results showed that tool life of carbide inserts decreased at higher cutting speeds. The surface roughness achieved under all cutting conditions for coated-carbide-treated/untreated inserts was comparable with that achieved with CBN inserts and was below 1.6 μm. The white layer formation and microhardness variation is less while turning with cryogenically treated carbide inserts than the CBN and untreated carbide. At low to medium cutting speed and feed, the performance of carbide inserts was comparable with CBN both in terms of tool life and surface integrity.     

基于正交试验法的CBN刀具车削表面粗糙度研究

基于CBN刀具的淬硬钢车削加工工艺,能否顺利替代传统的半精车、表面淬火后外圆磨加工工艺,其中重要的一点是新工艺技术必须能保证原有工艺技术的质量,还要求提高效率.在与企业的生产实际中采用正交试验法,找出基于CBN刀具加工影响表面粗糙度的主要因素,同时试验CBN刀具代替磨削加工的可行性.通过对试验数据的直观、方差分析,基于CBN刀具的硬车削加工工艺能满足产品加工的要求,且走刀量是影响表面粗糙度的主要因素.     

Analysis and prediction of tool wear, surface roughness and cutting forces in hard turning with CBN tool

The main of the present study is to investigate the effects of process parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) on performance characteristics (tool life, surface roughness and cutting forces) in finish hard turning of AISI 52100 bearing steel with CBN tool. The cutting forces and surface roughness are measured at the end of useful tool life. The combined effects of the process parameters on performance characteristics are investigated using ANOVA. The composite desirability optimization technique associated with the RSM quadratic models is used as multi-objective optimization approach. The results show that feed rate and cutting speed strongly influence surface roughness and tool life. However, the depth of cut exhibits maximum influence on cutting forces. The proposed experimental and statistical approaches bring reliable methodologies to model, to optimize and to improve the hard turning process. They can be extended efficiently to study other machining processes.     

Modelling of CBN tool crater wear in finish hard turning

The wear of cubic boron nitride (CBN) cutters, commonly used now in the finish turning of hardened parts, is an important issue that needs to be addressed for hard turning to be a viable technology due to the high costs of CBN cutters and the down-time for tool change. Chipping and tool breakage, which lead to early tool failure, are both prone to take place under the effect of crater wear. The objective of this study is to develop a methodology to model the CBN tool crater wear rate to both guide the design of CBN tool geometry and optimise cutting parameters in finish hard turning. First, the wear volume losses due to the main wear mechanisms (abrasion, adhesion, and diffusion) are modelled as functions of cutting temperature, stress, and other process attributes respectively. Then, the crater wear rate is predicted in terms of tool/work material properties and cutting configuration. Finally, the proposed model is experimentally validated in finish turning of hardened 52100 bearing steel using a low CBN content insert. The comparison between the prediction and the measurement shows reasonable agreement and the results suggest that adhesion is the main wear mechanism over the investigated range of cutting conditions .     

Analysis of surface roughness and cutting force components in hard turning with CBN tool: Prediction model and cutting conditions optimization

In this study, the effects of cutting speed, feed rate, workpiece hardness and depth of cut on surface roughness and cutting force components in the hard turning were experimentally investigated. AISI H11 steel was hardened to (40; 45 and 50) HRC, machined using cubic boron nitride (CBN 7020 from Sandvik Company) which is essentially made of 57% CBN and 35% TiCN. Four-factor (cutting speed, feed rate, hardness and depth of cut) and three-level fractional experiment designs completed with a statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. Mathematical models for surface roughness and cutting force components were developed using the response surface methodology (RSM). Results show that the cutting force components are influenced principally by the depth of cut and workpiece hardness; on the other hand, both feed rate and workpiece hardness have statistical significance on surface roughness. Finally, the ranges for best cutting conditions are proposed for serial industrial production.     

Performance studies of multilayer hard surface coatings (TiN/TiCN/Al2O3/TiN) of indexable carbide inserts in hard machining: Part-I (An experimental approach)

In recent years, hard machining using CBN and ceramic inserts became an emerging technology than traditional grinding and widely used manufacturing processes. However the relatively high cost factors associated with such tools has left a space to look for relatively low cost cutting tool materials to perform in an acceptable range. Multilayer coated carbide insert is the proposed alternative in the present study due to its low cost. Thus, an attempt has been made to have an extensive study on the machinability aspects such as flank wear, chip morphology, surface roughness in finish hard turning of AISI 4340 steel (HRC 47 ± 1) using multilayer coated carbide (TiN/TiCN/Al₂O₃/TiN) insert under dry environment. Parametric influences on turning forces are also analyzed. From the machinability study, abrasion and chipping are found to be the dominant wear mechanism in hard turning. Multilayer TiN coated carbide inserts produced better surface quality and within recommendable range of 1.6 μm i.e. comparable with cylindrical grinding. At extreme parametric conditions, the growth of tool wear was observed to be rapid thus surface quality affected adversely. The chip morphology study reveals a more favorable machining environment in dry machining using TiN coated carbide inserts. The cutting speed and feed are found to have the significant effect on the tool wear and surface roughness from ANOVA study. It is evident that, thrust force (Fy) is the largest component followed by tangential force (Fz) and the feed force (Fx) in finish hard turning. The observations yield the machining ability of multilayer TiN coated carbide inserts in hard turning of AISI 4340 steel even at higher cutting speeds.     

An investigation of heat partition and tool wear in hard turning of H13 tool steel with CBN cutting tools

This paper presents results of an investigation into the tool life and the tool wear behaviour of low content CBN cutting tools used in hard turning of hardened H13 tool steel. The approach followed here required both experimental work and finite element thermal modelling. The experiments involved measuring the cutting forces, cutting temperatures, tool wear, and the contact area. Using the measured cutting forces and the contact area in the orthogonal cutting model, we calculated the heat flux on the tool and applied it in the FE thermal analysis. The temperatures history from the analysis was matched with the experimental data to estimate the fraction of heat entering the tool for both conventional and high speeds. The heat partition into the tool was estimated to be around 21–22% for conventional speeds, whereas for high-speed turning, it was around 14%. The tool wear, however, was found to be dominated by chipping for both cutting speeds and could be reduced considerably by reducing the amount of heat entering the tool.     

FORCES AND TEMPERATURES IN HARD TURNING

In precision machining, due to the recent developments in cutting tools, machine tool structural rigidity and improved CNC controllers, hard turning is an emerging process as an alternative to some of the grinding processes by providing reductions in costs and cycle-times. In industrial environments, hard turning is established for geometry features of parts with low to medium requirements on part quality. Better understanding of cutting forces, stresses and temperature fields, temperature gradients created during the machining are very critical for achieving highest quality products and high productivity in feasible cycle times. To enlarge the capability profile of the hard turning process, this paper introduces prediction models of mechanical and thermal loads during turning of 51CrV4 with hardness of 68 HRC by a CBN tool. The shear flow stress, shear and friction angles are determined from the orthogonal cutting tests. Cutting force coefficients are determined from orthogonal to oblique transformations. Cutting forces, temperature field for the chip and tool are predicted and compared with experimental measurements. The experimental temperature measurements are conducted by the advanced hardware device FIRE-1 (Fiberoptic Ratio Pyrometer).     

FORCES AND TEMPERATURES IN HARD TURNING

In precision machining, due to the recent developments in cutting tools, machine tool structural rigidity and improved CNC controllers, hard turning is an emerging process as an alternative to some of the grinding processes by providing reductions in costs and cycle-times. In industrial environments, hard turning is established for geometry features of parts with low to medium requirements on part quality. Better understanding of cutting forces, stresses and temperature fields, temperature gradients created during the machining are very critical for achieving highest quality products and high productivity in feasible cycle times. To enlarge the capability profile of the hard turning process, this paper introduces prediction models of mechanical and thermal loads during turning of 51CrV4 with hardness of 68 HRC by a CBN tool. The shear flow stress, shear and friction angles are determined from the orthogonal cutting tests. Cutting force coefficients are determined from orthogonal to oblique transformations. Cutting forces, temperature field for the chip and tool are predicted and compared with experimental measurements. The experimental temperature measurements are conducted by the advanced hardware device FIRE-1 (Fiberoptic Ratio Pyrometer).     

Turning titanium metal matrix composites (Ti-MMCs) with carbide and CBN inserts

Despite excellent mechanical and physical features of titanium metal matrix composite (Ti-MMC), hard and abrasive ceramic particles within the matrix structure, as well as high price, may lead to severe difficulties on machining and machinability of Ti-MMCs. Review of literature denotes that only limited studies are available on machining Ti-MMCs with commercial cutting tools under various cutting conditions and cutting tools/inserts. Furthermore, limited studies are available on machinability attributes of Ti-MMC under various cutting conditions used. Therefore, to remedy the lack of knowledge observed, this work intends to report turning Ti-MMCs with carbide, and cubic boron nitride (CBN) inserts under various cutting conditions. The mean values of surface roughness (R_a) and directional cutting forces, as well as flank wear (V_B) were studied as the machinability attributes. The microstructural evaluations were conducted to discover the wear modes. Furthermore, the statistical tools were used to present the factors governing machining attributes studied. Adhesion, abrasion, and oxidation were observed as the principle wear modes on the flank sides of the tested inserts. According to experimental results and statistical analysis, the R_a and V_B could be controlled by cutting parameters only when CBN inserts were used. Despite the inset used, factors governing both responses were not identical. Although average cutting forces were directly affected by cutting parameters used, however, the relatively low correlation of determination (R²) of directional cutting forces can be attributed to effects of cutting speed, elevated temperature in the cutting zone as well as rapid tool wear which are all correlated to others.     

Study of surface quality in high speed turning of Inconel 718 with uncoated and coated CBN tools

Inconel 718 is known to be among the most difficult-to-machine materials due to its special properties which cause the short tool life and severe surface damages. The properties, which are responsible for poor machinability, include rapid work hardening during machining; tendency to weld with the tool material at high temperature generated during machining; the tendency to form a built-up edge during machining; and the presence of hard carbides, such as titanium carbide and niobium carbide, in their microstructure. Conventional method of machining Inconel 718 with cemented carbide tool restricts the cutting speed to a maximum 30?m/min due to the lower hot hardness of carbide tool, high temperature strength and low thermal conductivity of Inconel 718. The introduction of new coated carbide tools has increased cutting speed to 100?m/min; nevertheless, the time required to machine this alloy is still considerably high. High speed machining using advanced tool material, such as CBN, is one possible alternative for improving the productivity of this material due to its higher hot hardness in comparison with carbide tool. This paper specifically deals with surface quality generated under high speed finishing turning conditions on age-hardened Inconel 718 with focus on surface roughness, metallographic analysis of surface layer and surface damages produced by machining. Both coated and uncoated CBN tools were used in the tests, and a comparison between surfaces generated by both tools was also discussed.     

精密硬车加工轴承套圈的表面完整性试验研究

针对磨削加工中套圈精密加工存在的不足,进行精密硬车削加工轴承套圈新工艺的开发,通过加工试验分析了精密硬车加工轴承套圈的表面完整性,探究了基准面平面度、刀具磨损量等工艺参数与加工精度的对应关系。基于精密硬车削套圈试样的表面粗糙度、沟道圆度、显微硬度、热损伤、金相组织、残余应力分布、加工效率等方面的研究,得出了精密硬车削可达到磨削加工精度的结论,且金相组织稳定,不易存在热损伤,具有可控的残余应力分布和较高的加工效率,有利于产业化生产高精密轴承。利用磁性卡盘装夹套圈,分析试样基准面平面度对精密硬车削套圈沟道圆度的影响,发现提高基准面平面度可以有效提高加工套圈的沟道圆度;分析了刀具磨损对硬车削套圈加工精度的影响,得出在精密加工阶段刀具磨损量是控制套圈圆度的重要监控工艺参数的结论。     

PCBN刀具材料的发展及其在铣削加工中的应用

介绍了PCBN刀具结构型式从钎焊式刀片到整体式刀片的发展过程。新牌号SECOMAX—CBN30 0刀片采用粗颗粒粉末 (2 2 μm)和新的烧结工艺 ,大大提高了刀片的抗冲击韧性 ,将PCBN刀具的应用从传统的车削硬材料 (HRC >45 )、以车代磨扩展到铣削加工领域。通过加工实例反映了PCBN铣刀在提高铣削加工效率方面的优秀品质。     

The monitoring of flank wear on the CBN tool in the hard turning process

In precision hard turning, tool flank wear is one of the major factors contributing to the geometric error and thermal damage in a machined workpiece. Tool wear not only directly reduces the part geometry accuracy but also increases the cutting forces drastically. The change in cutting forces causes instability in the tool motion, and in turn, more inaccuracy. There are demands for reliably monitoring the progress of tool wear during a machining process to provide information for both correction of geometric errors and to guarantee the surface integrity of the workpiece. A new method for tool wear monitoring in precision hard turning is presented in this paper. The flank wear of a CBN tool is monitored by feature parameters extracted from the measured passive force, by the use of a force dynamometer. The feature parameters include the passive force level, the frequency energy and the accumulated cutting time. An ANN model was used to integrate these feature parameters in order to obtain more reliable and robust flank wear monitoring. Finally, the results from validation tests indicate that the developed monitoring system is robust and consistent for tool wear monitoring in precision hard turning.     

PCBN刀具高速切削抗氢钢HR-2的性能研究

采用不同CBN含量和晶粒结构的PCBN刀具,在不同切削速度下进行了HR-2抗氢钢的高速精密切削试验。通过对PCBN刀具前、后刀面的显微形貌特征进行观测,分析了刀具的失效磨损机理,研究了不同CBN含量及不同切削速度对刀具使用寿命的影响。对刀具磨损的测量结果表明,PCBN刀具高速切削HR-2时,CBN含量高的刀具显示出更长的使用寿命,且在130-200m/min区间为最佳切削速度区域。SEM和EDS分析结果表明,高速精密切削HR-2的磨损机理为氧化磨损、扩散磨损、粘结磨损,同时存在磨粒磨损以及引起的微崩刃现象。