Orientation changes of aluminium single crystals in ultra-precision diamond turning

In this paper, the effects of cutting speed on the variation of surface texture and lattice rotation of diamond-turned surfaces were investigated. The {1 1 1} pole figures were determined at various locations by the X-ray diffraction method. The local lattice rotation at various locations on a machined groove by the electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) method was also obtained. A simulation of the orientation change was performed and the theoretical prediction was compared with the experimental results.     

A theoretical and experimental investigation of surface roughness formation in ultra-precision diamond turning

In this paper, a model-based simulation system is presented for the analysis of surface roughness generation in ultra-precision diamond turning. The system is based on a surface roughness model which takes into account the effect of tool geometry, process parameters and relative tool-work vibration. It is evaluated through a series of cutting experiments. The results indicate that the system can predict well the surface roughness profile and the roughness parameters of a diamond turned surface under various cutting conditions. With the use of the spectrum analysis techniques, the system can also help to analyze the effect of vibration on the surface quality of workpiece and to diagnose the machine faults. The potential application of the system in process optimization is also discussed in the text.     

Dynamic modelling of shear band formation and tool-tip vibration in ultra-precision diamond turning

This paper proposes a dynamic model to correlate the two basic physical phenomena in ultra-precision diamond turning, i.e. the formation of adiabatic shear band (ASB) and high frequency tool-tip vibration (HFTTV). The conventional approach explains the former using a static model without consideration of the latter. In this paper, a dynamic model is developed to reflect how the ASB and the HFTTV interactively affect each other. To illustrate the validity of this model, a novel experimental method is proposed and the effect of HFTTV on cutting force, surface roughness and chip morphology of ASBs is discussed in terms of the variation of strain rates.     

Tool wear mechanisms and tool life enhancement in ultra-precision machining of titanium

Titanium and its alloys are generally considered as difficult-to-machine materials due to their poor thermal conductivity and high strength, which is maintained at elevated temperatures. This paper examines the tool wear mechanisms involved in ultra-precision machining of titanium. In this study single-crystal diamond tools were used to machine commercial pure titanium (CP-Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Industrial expectations for surface quality and tool life based on optical grade applications are presented. Results obtained from the characterization of the tool, chip and workpiece led to the identification of graphitization as the mechanism that initiates tool wear. As the cutting edge rounds-off due to graphitization the rate of adhesion of the workpiece material onto the tool increased, which caused the quality of the surface finish to deteriorate. To reduce this wear mechanism a protective barrier made of Perfluoropolyether (PFPE) polymer, was explored. Tribometer studies with PFPE coated diamond tools and titanium pins showed a reduction in the coefficient of friction (COF). Subsequent machining tests using PFPE coated diamond tools showed promising results in extending the tool life and enhancing the surface quality to a point where Ti can now be considered as a viable option for applications involving optical grade surfaces.     

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.     

A theoretical and experimental investigation into multimode tool vibration with surface generation in ultra-precision diamond turning

In ultra-precision diamond turning (UPDT), tool's high frequency vibration is natural mechanism influencing nanometric surface roughness of machined components. Its first mode high frequency vibration has been overemphasized. However, its multimode high frequency vibration (MHFTV) has not been reported. In the paper, the MHFTV and its effects on surface generation in UPDT are firstly studied. The experimental and theoretical results verify that (i) diamond tool naturally possesses multimode high frequencies, i.e. one sub-high frequency (SHF) for the tool shank tip, one high frequency (HF) for the tool tip, and one ultrahigh frequency (UHF) for the diamond tip; (ii) dampers cause the variation of tool's multimode high frequencies, under which the MHFTV together produces non-uniform zebra-stripe-like patterns at a machined surface; and (iii) cutting force has a linear relationship with and tool's stiffness has a reverse proportion to the amplitude of the MHFTV to influence surface generation, which can be used to improve surface quality.     

Tool path generation for ultra-precision machining of free-form surfaces

The generation of tool paths for ultra-precision machining is still a limiting factor in the manufacturing of parts with complex optical surfaces. In conventional machining as well as in complex five axes machining the application of CAD- and CAM-software for the generation of tool paths is state of the art. But these software solutions are not able to generate tool paths according to the high requirements of ultra-precision machining. This paper describes possible ways to generate tool paths for ultra-precision machining when the optical surface can be analytically described or when the surface data is derived from optical design software. Ultra-precision milling experiments with different tool paths have been carried out and the quality of the machined geometry has been evaluated concerning the achievable form accuracy.     

A theoretical and experimental investigation into five-DOF dynamic characteristics of an aerostatic bearing spindle in ultra-precision diamond turning

In ultra-precision diamond turning (UPDT), spindle vibration has great influence on machining precision of high precision optical components. However, the spindle-vibration mechanism has not been fully understood. In this study, mathematical solutions for a proposed five-degree-of-freedom (FDOF) dynamic model of an aerostatic bearing spindle are derived to explore natural mechanisms of spindle vibration. Thus, the potential benefits of the solutions are to be applied for the prediction and optimization of the effects of spindle vibration on surface generation. Its dynamic characteristics possess three translational frequencies along the radial and axial directions, a spindle rotational frequency (SRF), and a pair of coupled tilting frequencies (CTFs) around the radial directions influenced the SRF. The theoretical results are identified by the frequency characteristics of thrust cutting forces, and the periodic, concentric, spiral, radial and two-fold patterns (PCSRPs) of the machined and simulated surface topographies, respectively.     

Finite element modelling of shear angle and cutting force variation induced by material anisotropy in ultra-precision diamond turning

This paper addresses a key theoretical problem in the mechanics of ultra-precision machining – shear angle prediction and cutting force variation induced by crystallographic anisotropy. The constitutive equation of crystal plasticity is implemented in the finite element modelling of the chip formation at micro-scale to take into account the effect of crystallographic orientations of the work piece to be cut. The theoretical prediction of shear angle and cutting force variation reveals two distinguished phases of pre-compression and steady-state cutting in ultra-precision diamond turning. The predicted patterns of cutting force variation are in good agreement with published experimental results.     

Nanocrystalline diamond coating tools for machining high-strength Al alloys

Diamond coating tools have been increasingly used for machining advanced materials. Recently, a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology was developed to produce diamond coatings which consist of nano-diamond crystals embedded into a hard amorphous diamond-like carbon matrix. In this study, the nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) coating tools were evaluated in machining high-strength aluminum (Al) alloy. The conventional CVD microcrystalline diamond coating (MCD) tools and PCD tools were also tested for performance comparisons. In addition, stress distributions in diamond coating tools, after deposition and during machining, were analyzed using a 2D finite element (FE) thermomechanical model.

The results show that catastrophic failures, reached in all except one machining conditions, limit the NCD tool life, which is primarily affected by the cutting speed. In addition, coating delamination in the worn NCD tools is clearly evident from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and force monitoring in machining can capture the delamination incident. At a high feed, coating delamination may extend to the rake face. Furthermore, SEM observations of coating failure boundaries show intimate coating-substrate contact. Though the NCD tools are inferior to the PCD tools, they substantially outperform the MCD tools, which failed by premature delamination. The diamond coating tools can have high residual stresses from the deposition and stresses at the cutting edge are highly augmented. Further machining loading causes the stress reversal pattern which seems to correlate with the tool wear severity.     

A novel method for determination of the subsurface damage depth in diamond turning of brittle materials

Micro-structured surfaces on brittle materials, e.g. ceramic and glass, are gaining increasing industrial applications such as optics, semiconductor and biomedical. However, these materials tend to be damaged with brittle fracture in machining. To generate crack-free surfaces, ductile-regime machining should be maintained for the entire micro-structured surface. In ductile-regime machining the material is removed by both plastic deformation and brittle fracture, but the cracks produced are prevented from extending into the finished surface. In this paper, a machining model has been developed for fast tool servo (FTS) diamond turning of micro-structured surfaces on brittle materials. Based on the model, a damaged region analysis method (DRAM) is proposed to determine the subsurface damage depth (C_m) by analyzing the surface damaged region of a machined micro-structured surface with sinusoidal wave along radial direction. Only one micro-structured surface is required to be machined to obtain C_m, which greatly reduces the effort for determination of C_m. With C_m, the maximum feedrate for machining a crack-free micro-structured surface can be determined. Machining experiments have verified the validity of DRAM.     

The relation between chip morphology and tool wear in ultra-precision raster milling

In the field of ultra-precision machining, the study of the relation between chip morphology and tool wear is significant, since tool wear characteristics can be reflected by morphologies of cutting chips. In this research, the relation between chip morphology and tool flank wear is first investigated in UPRM. A cutting experiment was performed to explore chip morphologies under different widths of flank wear land. A geometric model was developed to identify the width of flank wear land based on chip morphology. Theoretical and experimental results reveal that the occurrence of tool flank wear can make the cutting chips truncated at both their cut-in and cut-out sides, and reduce the length of cutting chips in the feed direction. The width of truncation positions of the cutting chip can be measured and used to calculate the width of flank wear land with the help of the mathematical model. The present research is potentially used to detect tool wear and evaluate machined surface quality in intermittent cutting process.     

Thermo-Chemical Wear Mechanism of Diamond Tool in Machining of Ferrous Metals

To understand the wear mechanism of diamond tool in machining of ferrous metals, an erosion test simulating wear process and ab-initio molecular orbital calculation are carried out. The results of the tests and analyses show that the essential wear mechanism at the temperature higher than 1000K is the dissociation of carbon atoms on diamond surface due to the interaction with iron surface. The wear rate is controlled by the removal rate of dissociated carbon atoms from the tool-work interface such as diffusion into workpiece. At the temperature lower than 900K, the mechanism involves the removal of carbon atoms due to oxidization of diamond accompanied with deoxidization of iron oxide.     

Performance evaluation of pure CBN tools for machining of steel

Ultra-precision machining is one of the most important machining technologies for the manufacture of precision dies and molds. Typically, single point diamond cutting tools are used to machine molds which are coated with electroless nickel (NiP) for such applications. The high cost of diamond cutters and electroless nickel plating, coupled with problems of pre-mature failure of the coating in service and long lead time are negative factors in this approach. Hence, there is a strong need for the direct ultra-precision machining of mold steel and to develop relevant technologies to address the problem of tool wear. In the machining of alloy steel, cubic boron nitride (CBN) has long been used as an ideal cutting tool material but recently binderless CBN or pure CBN (PCBN) with superior mechanical properties has been developed by Sumitomo Electric Industries in Japan. The objective of this paper is to explore the feasibility of using PCBN tools for direct ultra-precision machining of Stavax, a type of alloy steel from ASSAB. The performance characteristics in terms of surface roughness and tool wear of PCBN (Sumitomo IZ900) and conventional CBN (Sumitomo BN600) under different machining conditions were studied and their results were compared. Based on the experimental results, PCBN has been found to perform better in terms of wear resistance compared to conventional CBN tool. It is also able to achieve near mirror finish of less than 30 nm R_a, and hence it appears to be a promising tool for direct cutting of die and mold materials.     

Hard turning with variable micro-geometry PcBN tools

This paper presents investigations on hard turning with variable edge design PcBN inserts. Turning of hardened AISI 4340 steel with uniform and variable edge design PcBN inserts is conducted, forces and tool wear are measured. 3D finite element modelling is utilized to predict chip formation, forces, temperatures and tool wear on uniform and variable edge micro-geometry tools. Predicted forces and tool wear contours are compared with experiments. The temperature distributions and tool wear contours demonstrate the advantages of variable edge micro-geometry design.     

Cutting performance of PVD-coated carbide and CBN tools in hardmilling

In this study, cutting performance of CBN tools and PVD-coated carbide tools in end-milling of hardened steel was investigated. In high-speed dry hardmilling, two types of CBN tools were applied: the CBN-rich type and an ordinary one. In the case of relatively low-speed milling, on the other hand, a few coated carbide tools were selected where four kinds of coating films, TiN, TiCN, TiAlN and multi-layered TiAlN/AlCrN, were deposited on the K10 and P30 grade carbide. The cutting performance was mainly evaluated by tool wear, cutting temperature, cutting force and surface roughness. In dry cutting of hardened carbon steel with the ordinary CBN tool, the cutting tool temperature rose rapidly with increase in cutting speed; and tool temperature reached approximately 850 °C at the cutting speed of 600 m/min. In the case of the CBN-rich tool, the cutting temperature decreased by 50 °C or more because of its high thermal conductivity. It is remarkable that tool wear or damage on a cutting tool was not observed even when the cutting length was 156 m in both CBN tools. In the case of coated carbide tools, the temperatures of TiN-, TiCN- and TiAlN-coated carbide tools rose as cutting proceeded because of the progress of tool wear, but that of TiAlN/AlCrN-coated carbide tool hardly rose due to little tool wear. When the base material was K10 grade carbide, tool temperature was lower than that of P30 with any coating. The tool flank wear depends considerably on hardness and oxidizing temperature of the coating film.     

Adhesion analysis and dry machining performance of CVD diamond coatings deposited on surface modified WC-Co turning inserts

This paper investigates the effects of different surface pretreatments on the adhesion and performance of CVD diamond coated WC-Co turning inserts for the dry machining of high silicon aluminum alloys. Different interfacial characteristics between the diamond coatings and the modified WC-Co substrate were obtained by the use of two different chemical etchings and a CrN/Cr interlayer, with the aim to produce an adherent diamond coating by increasing the interlocking effect of the diamond film, and halting the catalytic effect of the cobalt present on the cemented carbide tool. A systematic study is analyzed in terms of the initial cutting tool surface modifications, the deposition and characterization of microcrystalline diamond coatings deposited by HFCVD synthesis, the estimation of the resulting diamond adhesion by Rockwell indentations and Raman spectroscopy, and finally, the evaluation of the dry machining performance of the diamond coated tools on A390 aluminum alloys. The experiments show that chemical etching methods exceed the effect of the CrN/Cr interlayer in increasing the diamond coating adhesion under dry cutting operations. This work provided new insights about optimizing the surface characteristics of cemented carbides to produce adherent diamond coatings in the dry cutting manufacturing chain of high silicon aluminum alloys.     

Reduction of wear induced surface zone effects during hard turning by means of new tool geometries

Tool wear during hard turning influences the properties of the workpiece surface and subsurface layer significantly. Due to increasing flank face wear at the cutting edge, the contact conditions between tool and workpiece are changed. The mechanical and thermal load in the workpiece surface increases during the process. This favors the formation of white layers and of residual stress gradients in the subsurface zone of hardened workpieces whereby the components life time is reduced. The article presents novel modifications of the tool geometry, which leads to a considerable prolongation of the tool life time. This advanced tool design enables the production of constant material properties in the surface and subsurface zone during a broad time window.     

A comprehensive chatter prediction model for face turning operation including tool wear effect

This paper presents a three-dimensional mechanistic frequency domain chatter model for face turning processes, that can account for the effects of tool wear including process damping. New formulations are presented to model the variation in process damping forces along nonlinear tool geometries such as the nose radius. The underlying dynamic force model simulates the variation in the chip cross-sectional area by accounting for the displacements in the axial and radial directions. The model can be used to determine stability boundaries under various cutting conditions and different states of flank wear. Experimental results for different amounts of wear are provided as a validation for the model.     

Fundamental investigation of ultra-precision ductile machining of tungsten carbide by applying elliptical vibration cutting with single crystal diamond

This paper presents essential investigations on the feasibility of ductile mode machining of sintered tungsten carbide assisted by ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting technology. It lays out the foundations toward efficient application of elliptical vibration cutting technology on tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide is a crucial material for glass molding in the optics manufacturing industry. Its grain size and binder material have significant influence not only on the mechanical and chemical properties but also on the machining performance of tungsten carbide. In order to investigate the influence of material composition on tungsten carbide machining, a series of grooving and planing experiments were conducted utilizing single crystal diamond tools. The experimental results indicated that as compared to ordinary cutting where finished surface deteriorates seriously, ductile mode machining can be attained successfully by applying the elliptical vibration cutting technique. It was also clarified that the binder material, the grain size, cutting/vibration conditions as well as crystal orientation of the diamond tool have significant influence on the tool life and the machined surface quality. Based on these fundamental results, feasibility of micro/nano-scale fabrication on tungsten carbide is investigated. By applying amplitude control sculpturing method, where depth of cut is arbitrary changed by controlling the vibration amplitude while machining, ultra-precision textured grooves and a dimple pattern were successfully sculptured on tungsten carbide in ductile mode.