Machinability of ultrafine-grained copper using tungsten carbide and polycrystalline diamond tools

Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) is an effective process to produce bulk ultrafine-grained (UFG) materials from regular coarse-grained materials. Such ECAE-processed materials typically excel in strength, wear resistance, ductility, and high strain-rate superplasticity, with promising applications in lightweight transportation and medical industries. Precision machining work is generally indispensable for further applications after bulk materials are produced by ECAE. To effectively and efficiently machine such ECAE-processed materials for further broad applications, machining issues such as machinability and tool material selection should be considered. This study was undertaken to investigate the machinability of ECAE-processed pure copper using both tungsten carbide (WC) and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) cutting tools in order to facilitate broad applications of ECAE-processed UFG coppers. It is found that despite its higher cost, PCD is favored to machine UFG copper based on this study since it has better wear resistance, gives lower cutting forces, yields a better workpiece surface finish, and results in no smearing on the workpiece. In machining UFG copper, depth of cut notching was observed as the wear pattern and abrasion as the wear mechanism for the WC tool, while flank wear was observed as the wear pattern and diffusion as the wear mechanism for the PCD tool.     

Study on wear mechanisms and grain effects of PCD tool in machining laminated flooring

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools have gained increasing application in woodworking industry for the phenomenal tool life and cutting finish compared with carbide tools. In the paper, machining experiments with PCD tools were conducted to mill laminated flooring with Al₂O₃ overlay. Four kinds of PCD products with different original diamond grain sizes were used to fabricate the cutters. Wear volume was measured by optical microscopy and wear morphology was examined by SEM and optical microscopy.The experimental results show that the wear mechanisms of PCD tools, in the machining process, involve inter-granular wear and partial cleavage fracture. The microcracks in PCD tools are a key reason for the wear of tools. By comparing the flank wear, the experiments reveal that PCD tools with middle original diamond grain size have long tool life. The influences of original diamond grain size on cutting edge and wear properties have also been discussed in detail.     

High Speed Face Milling of a Aluminium Silicon Alloy Casting

High speed machining of aluminium silicon alloy castings has gained significant interest from automotive industry involved in the development of the new generation of lightweight vehicles. This paper investigates the influence of workpiece microstructure, namely the secondary dendritic arm spacing (SDAS), tool material and geometry on tool wear mechanisms, cutting forces and surface integrity when face milling at cutting speeds of 5,000 m min⁻¹. It was found that the SDAS is the parameter with the main influence on tool wear rate; higher SDAS values require polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tooling due to the lower wear rates when compared with carbide tools. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was employed to study the influence of tool wear on temperature and shear stress distribution in the workpiece material.     

Broaching of Inconel 718 with cemented carbide

Broaching is the standard process for machining complex-shaped slots in turbine discs. More flexible processes such as milling, wire EDM machining and water-jet cutting are under investigation and show promising results. In order to further use existing resources and process knowledge, the broaching process has to be improved towards higher material removal rates. Taking into account that the state-of-the-art broaching process is working with high-speed-steel tools, the higher thermal resistant cemented carbide cutting materials offer the potential to significantly increase cutting speeds, which lead to increased process productivity. The following article presents a broad study on broaching with cemented carbide tools. Different cutting edge geometries are discussed on the basis of process forces, chip formation and tool wear mechanisms. Furthermore, a detailed comparison to the standard process is drawn.     

Machinability of hardened steel using alumina based ceramic cutting tools

Alumina based ceramic cutting tool is an attractive alternative for carbide tools in the machining of steel in its hardened condition. These ceramic cutting tools can machine with high cutting speed and produce good surface finish. The wear mechanism of these ceramic cutting tools should be properly understood for greater utilization. Two types of ceramic cutting tools namely Ti[C,N] mixed alumina ceramic cutting tool and zirconia toughened alumina ceramic cutting tool are used for our investigation. The machinability of hardened steel was evaluated by measurements of tool wear, cutting forces and surface finish of the work piece. These alumina based ceramic cutting tool materials produce good surface finish in the machining of hardened steel. In this paper an attempt is made to analyse the important wear mechanisms like abrasive wear, adhesive wear and diffusion wear of these ceramic cutting tool materials and the performance of these ceramic cutting tools related to the surface finish is also discussed here.     

Using PCD for machining CGI with a CO2 coolant system

Polycrystalline diamond is widely used as a economic cutting material for machining non-ferrous materials such as aluminum. It is perceived that diamond cannot be used for cutting ferrous materials due to the high affinity of carbon to iron. Nevertheless, under certain conditions it is possible to use diamond materials for cutting ferrous metals. In order to avoid graphitization of the diamond matrix, it is necessary to keep the cutting temperature below the critical level of diamond graphitization. This paper presents the influence of a cryogenic CO₂ coolant strategy on the cutting process using PCD tools for cutting high strength compacted graphite iron (CGI). Investigations show, that tool wear behavior strongly correlates with the cutting speed, the cutting forces, cutting temperatures, and surface roughness of the workpiece. The test results show, that the tool life of PCD for cutting cast iron is dependent on the diamond grain size, the binder material, and the cutting parameters.     

PCBN刀具切削性能和磨损机理研究综述

聚晶立方氮化硼(PCBN)刀具是继聚晶金刚石刀具之后的又一种超硬刀具,以其独特的“以车代磨”、“硬态加工”、“干式切削”等方式被誉为21世纪的绿色环保刀具。PCBN刀具在金属切削方面具有广泛的应用,主要用来加工各种淬硬钢、耐磨铸铁等铁基材料。本文介绍了PCBN刀具成分、几何形状、切削参数等对其切削性能的影响,在此基础上分析了不同材料加工时刀具的主要磨损机理,还简单对比了硬质合金和PCBN刀具切削性能上的差异。      

加工复合地板耐磨层时PCD刀具切削参数的研究

切削参数是影响PCD刀具切削性能的主要因素。本文采用Element Six公司的SYNDITE CTH025型聚晶金刚石(PCD)复合片制成强化复合地板用切削刀具，进行了一系列加工强化复合地板耐磨层的切削实验。通过实验研究了切削参数对刀具切削力的影响，得出了切削力随切削参数的变化规律，指出随着切削深度的增加，PCD刀具切削力增加；进给速度的增加使切削力增加；切削速度的增加将会使切削力降低。同时，分析了切削参数对刀具磨损、工件加工质量以及加工效率的影响。最后，本文总结了采用PCD刀具加工强化复合地板时加工参数的选择原则，认为当n=6000r／min、f=10000mm／min能够实现较高的加工效率，并保证工件的加工质量。     

Determining the influence of cutting fluids on tool wear and surface roughness during turning of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel

Knowledge of the performance of cutting fluids in machining different work materials is of critical importance in order to improve the efficiency of any machining process. The efficiency can be evaluated based on certain process parameters such as flank wear, surface roughness on the work piece, cutting forces developed, temperature developed at the tool chip interface, etc. The objective of this work is to determine the influence of cutting fluids on tool wear and surface roughness during turning of AISI 304 with carbide tool. Further an attempt has been made to identify the influence of coconut oil in reducing the tool wear and surface roughness during turning process. The performance of coconut oil is also being compared with another two cutting fluids namely an emulsion and a neat cutting oil (immiscible with water). The results indicated that in general, coconut oil performed better than the other two cutting fluids in reducing the tool wear and improving the surface finish. Coconut oil has been used as one of the cutting fluids in this work because of its thermal and oxidative stability which is being comparable to other vegetable-based cutting fluids used in the metal cutting industry.     

The application of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool materials when drilling and reaming aluminium based alloys including MMC

Following a review of metal matrix composite (MMC) materials and production methods, the paper outlines the development and application of PCD cutting tools. Experimental data are presented for the drilling and single blade reaming of aluminium-silicon alloys containing 7% and 13% silicon and aluminium 2618 MMC alloy reinforced with 15 vol% silicon carbide (SiC) particulate. Though initially aimed only at aerospace and defence products, MMCs have progressively moved into higher volume applications and are currently under evaluation for volume automotive components. Compared with standard hypoeutectic and hypereutectic cast aluminium-silicon alloys, tool wear when machining MMC is shown to be up to seven times more severe. Tools used for drilling include HSS-M2, diamond plated HSS, WC, TiN coated WC and PCD. Other than when using PCD drills, tool life was extremely short due to the abrasive nature of the (SiC) reinforcement. Similarly, results from PCD reaming tests confirmed that diamond tooling provides the only realistic tooling option.     

A study on the effect of tool nose radius in ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting of tungsten carbide

Nowadays, ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting (UEVC) technique is being successfully applied for ultraprecision machining of difficult-to-cut materials. Previous study reported that the tool geometry especially tool nose radius notably influences the performance of 1D ultrasonic vibration cutting (UVC). However, the effect of tool nose radius in the UEVC technique is yet to be studied. This study aims to investigate the effects of tool nose radius on the UEVC performance in terms of cutting force, tool wear and surface finish when machining a hard-to-cut material, sintered tungsten carbide (WC), using PCD tools. The experimental results show that the UEVC technique performs remarkably better in all aspects at a 0.6 mm nose radius compared to a lower (e.g. 0.2 or 0.4 mm) and a higher nose radius (e.g. 0.8 mm). When machining about 412 mm² surface area, an average surface roughness, R_a of 0.010 μm is achieved with a 0.6 mm nose radius. Analyses are conducted to justify the findings in this study.     

Study on PCD machining

Polycrystalline diamond, PCD, is known for its superior characteristics such as hardness, toughness and wear resistance. However, due to these factors, manufacturing PCD tools is a difficult material removal process. Using quantitative analysis, this study compares the machining effect on a PCD V-cutter including EDM and grinding. The conclusions show that grinding is better than EDM for machining PCD, and with proper parameters, the PCD will be less damaged and retain its superiorities as a cutting tool. In addition, this study presents a beginning for research on understandings of principles in cutting PCD. It may be useful for toolmakers to produce a high quality and reusable PCD tools.     

石英纤维增强陶瓷基复合材料制孔工艺研究

本试验针对目前硬质合金刀具加工石英纤维增强陶瓷基复合材料时存在的刀具磨损严重、加工质量差、效率低下等问题,对比了硬质合金刀具钻孔、PCD刀具钻孔和电镀金刚石套料钻螺旋铣磨制孔的效果,分析了切削力对制孔质量的影响。研究结果表明:纬纱纤维对X向和Y向切削力的影响明显大于经纱纤维,垂直于纬纱纤维方向的切削力较小,平行于纬纱纤维方向的切削力较大;PCD刀具钻孔质量相对较好,刀具磨损不明显,适用于石英纤维增强陶瓷基复合材料的制孔加工。      

Effect of micro-textured tools on machining of Ti–6Al–4V alloy: An experimental and numerical approach

In this work, an attempt is made to reduce the detrimental effects that occurred during machining of Ti–6Al–4V by employing surface textures on the rake faces of the cutting tools. Numerical simulation of machining of Ti–6Al–4V alloy with surface textured tools was employed, taking the work piece as elasto-plastic material and the tool as rigid body. Deform 3D software with updated Lagrangian formulation was used for numerical simulation of machining process. Coupled thermo-mechanical analysis was carried out using Johnson-cook material model to predict the temperature distribution, machining forces, tool wear and chip morphology during machining. Turning experiments on Ti–6Al–4V alloy were carried out using surface textured tungsten carbide tools with micro-scaled grooves in preferred orientation such as, parallel, perpendicular and cross pattern to that of chip flow. A mixture of molybdenum disulfide with SAE 40 oil (80:20) was used as semi-solid lubricant during machining process. Temperature distribution at tool–chip interface was measured using an infrared thermal imager camera. Feed, thrust and cutting forces were measured by a three component-dynamometer. Tool wear and chip morphology were captured and analyzed using optical microscopic images. Experimental results such as cutting temperature, machining forces and chip morphology were used for validating numerical simulation results. Cutting tools with surface textures produced in a direction perpendicular to that of chip flow exhibit a larger reduction in cutting force, temperature generation and reduced tool wear.     

Experimental observation of tool wear in rotary ultrasonic machining of advanced ceramics

As one of the cost-effective machining methods for advanced ceramics, rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) has attracted much attention and there exist numerous publications on the process. However, few investigations on tool wear in the RUM process have been reported. This paper, for the first time in literature, presents an experimental observation on tool wear in RUM of silicon carbide (SiC). It first reviews some related wear mechanisms for grinding wheels and some techniques for studying the wheel wear mechanisms. After describing the experimental procedures, it presents and discusses the results on tool wear and cutting forces in RUM of SiC. It also discusses some practical implications of the findings from this study.     

Tool wear and chip formation during hard turning with self-propelled rotary tools

This paper presents a performance assessment of rotary tool during machining hardened steel. The investigation includes an analysis of chip morphology and modes of tool wear. The effect of tool geometry and type of cutting tool material on the tool self-propelled motion are also investigated. Several tool materials were tested for wear resistance including carbide, coated carbide, and ceramics. The self-propelled coated carbide tools showed superior wear resistance. This was demonstrated by evenly distributed flank wear with no evidence of crater wear. The characteristics of temperature generated during machining with the rotary tool are studied. It was shown that reduced tool temperature eliminates the diffusion wear and dominates the abrasion wear. Also, increasing the tool rotational speed shifted the maximum temperature at the chip–tool interface towards the cutting edge.     

Surface structuring of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) using ultrashort pulse laser and the study of force conditions

In the metal working industry, cutting tools for high precision application are usually made from non-conventional super hard materials, for example, diamond (D) and cubic boron nitride (CBN). These materials are composites of geometrically undefined grains embedded in metallic binder. For some special applications, these tools are constructed from one or several cutting edges and guide rails. Typical examples are honing and guided reaming tools for the fine machining of bores. These tools improve the form, dimension and surface quality, as well as the geometrical tolerances of the machined workpieces. The guide rails of the tool play an important role as they usually support the tool shaft in the rotating movement, for example the guiding stones of the honing tool. In the case of dynamic contact, higher demands on material properties such as hardness and wear resistance are necessary. In this study, a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) grade is employed as a new material for guide rails. Contacting surfaces of the PCD guide rails are textured with three defined patterns by a femtosecond laser setup. It is aimed to improve the force conditions by means of changing the contacting conditions. Within this regard, the tribological properties of the three patterns on PCD rails are characterized using a nanotribometer and compared to the conventional guide rails made of cemented tungsten carbides. A force simulation based on the honing processes is built up and conducted to predict the force conditions of each different pattern. At the same time, morphological modification, assessment of surface and microstructural integrity of the structured PCD guide rails are also studied in this work.     

Built-up edge effect on tool wear when turning steels at low cutting speed

In any machining process, it is very important to control the cutting variables used during the process because these will affect, for example, tool life and workpiece surface roughness. Since the built-up edge (BUE) increases the wear of the tool and affects the surface roughness of the workpiece, the study of this phenomenon is very important in predicting and minimizing the wear of a cutting tool. This research studies the influence of the BUE formation for coated carbide tools when turning medium- and high-strength steels. Different mathematical expressions were obtained to quantify this effect. Mathematical expressions for uncoated carbide tools were not possible to obtain, due to the fact that for these tools an increase in the wear and their premature fracture was observed.     

石墨烯涂层刀具的研究现状

针对高效干式切削加工中润滑能力不足,将自润滑性能优良的石墨烯粒子原位生长或者以复合材料的形式沉积于硬质合金刀具基体表面,有望弥补传统干切削中刀具使用寿命和加工性能偏低的不足。介绍了石墨烯材料在金属切削刀具领域中的研究和应用的现状,解读使用不同的工艺制备方法获得原生石墨烯涂层或者石墨烯复合超硬材料,并用其进行金属切削加工和摩擦磨损的试验。结果表明：石墨烯涂层刀具具备优良的润滑性能,能有效降低刀具的摩擦因数和磨损率,提高其使用寿命。     

Evaluation of the performance of CBN tools when turning Ti–6Al–4V alloy with high pressure coolant supplies

Cubic Nitride Boron (CBN) tools are generally used for machining harder alloys such as hardened high Cr steels, titanium and nickel alloys. The tools are expected to withstand the heat and pressure developed when machining at higher cutting conditions because of their high hardness and melting point. This paper evaluates the performance of different CBN tool grades in finish turning Ti–6Al–4V (IMI 318) alloy at high cutting conditions, up to 250 m min⁻¹, with various coolant supplies. Tool wear, failure modes, cutting and feed forces and surface roughness of machined surfaces were monitored and used to access the performance of the cutting tools. Comparative trials were carried out with uncoated carbide tools when machining at a speed of 150 m min⁻¹. Test results show that the performance of CBN tools, in terms of tool life, at the cutting conditions investigated is poor relative to uncoated carbide tools, as expected and often, reported due probably to rapid notching and excessive chipping of the cutting edge associated with a relatively high diffusion wear rate that tends to weaken the bond strength of the tool substrate. An increase in the CBN content of the cutting tool also led to a reduction in tool life when machining at the cutting conditions investigated.