Machining of high performance workpiece materials with CBN coated cutting tools

The machining of high performance workpiece materials requires significantly harder cutting materials. In hard machining, the early tool wear occurs due to high process forces and temperatures. The hardest known material is the diamond, but steel materials cannot be machined with diamond tools because of the reactivity of iron with carbon. Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is the second hardest of all known materials. The supply of such PcBN indexable inserts, which are only geometrically simple and available, requires several work procedures and is cost-intensive. The development of a cBN coating for cutting tools, combine the advantages of a thin film system and of cBN. Flexible cemented carbide tools, in respect to the geometry can be coated. The cBN films with a thickness of up to 2 µm on cemented carbide substrates show excellent mechanical and physical properties. This paper describes the results of the machining of various workpiece materials in turning and milling operations regarding the tool life, resultant cutting force components and workpiece surface roughness. In turning tests of Inconel 718 and milling tests of chrome steel the high potential of cBN coatings for dry machining was proven. The results of the experiments were compared with common used tool coatings for the hard machining. Additionally, the wear mechanisms adhesion, abrasion, surface fatigue and tribo-oxidation were researched in model wear experiments.     

Tool wear in cryogenic turning of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Though titanium alloys are being increasingly sought in a wide variety of engineering and biomedical applications, their manufacturability, especially machining and grinding imposes lot of constraints. Rapid tool wear encountered in machining of titanium alloys is a challenge that needs to be overcome. Cryogenic machining with liquid nitrogen as coolant is being investigated by researchers to reduce the cutting zone temperatures and enhance the tool life. The effects of cryogenic cooling have been studied on growth and nature tool wear in the present investigation while turning Ti-6Al-4V alloy bars with microcrystalline uncoated carbide inserts under dry, wet and cryogenic cooling environments in the cutting velocity range of 70-100 m/min. Cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen jets enabled substantial improvement in tool life through reduction in adhesion-dissolution-diffusion tool wear through control of machining temperature desirably at the cutting zone.     

Cutting Edge Wear of Tungsten Carbide Tool in Continuous and Interrupted Cutting of a Polymer Composite

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the performance of C6 tungsten carbide, C2 tungsten carbide, and Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) inserts in cutting Graphite/Epoxy (Gr/Ep) composites. Continuous and interrupted cutting tests under dry conditions were made to cut woven fabric and tape Gr/Ep composites. It was found that continuous cutting mode and high cutting speeds significantly reduce tool life of carbides. Machining of tape Gr/Ep reduces the tool life more than the machining of fabric work pieces. Also, C2 grade carbide inserts had a longer tool life than C6 carbide inserts despite the type of work piece or machining condition used. It was observed that a PCD insert's life was about 100 times of C2 carbide inserts during continuous cutting and at high speeds.     

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.     

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.     

Boron containing combination tool coatings—characterization and application tests

The requirements for durable tool coatings continuously increase. In many cases, tool coatings combining different phases or several layers could provide an improvement in tool life. The broad range of mechanical properties of materials in the B–C–N and Ti–B–N ternary systems, from very soft to superhard, presents many possibilities to generate various combination coatings. Such coatings were prepared using reactive sputter techniques with different target materials. An outstanding example is a superhard 3 μm thick coating system with a 0.5 to 0.8 μm thick cBN top layer deposited on cutting inserts. Soft coatings like hexagonal boron nitride were found to be essential for machining operations under dry conditions. The coatings were characterized with respect to hardness, abrasive wear rate and friction coefficients. The correlation between properties and composition was revealed. Application test results of B–C–N and Ti–B–N coating systems on tools obtained under near production conditions will be reported. Specifically, turning tests performed with cemented carbide cutting inserts coated with a superhard coating system with a cBN top layer will be discussed.     

Optimizing feed force for turned parts through the Taguchi technique

The objective of the paper is to obtain an optimal setting of turning process parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) resulting in an optimal value of the feed force when machining EN24 steel with TiC-coated tungsten-carbide inserts. The effects of the selected turning process parameters on feed force and the subsequent optimal settings of the parameters have been accomplished using Taguchi’s parameter design approach. The results indicate that the selected process parameters significantly affect the selected machining characteristics. The results are confirmed by further experiments.     

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.     

Characterization and Performance of AlTiN,AlTiCrN, TiN/TiAlN PVD Coated Carbide Tools While Turning SS 304

This study presents the physical, mechanical properties and dry turning performance of AlTiN, AlTiCrN, and TiN/TiAlN coatings produced on K-grade tungsten carbide insert by advanced physical vapor deposition technique. Scanning electron microscopy, microhardness tester, and scratch tester were used to examine surface morphology, coating thickness, microstructure, microhardness, and adhesion of coating. The performance in terms of cutting force and temperature of AlTiN, AlTiCrN, and TiN/TiAlN coated inserts was evaluated while dry turning of SS 304 steel. SS 304 is considered as “difficult-to-cut” material due to its exotic properties. The experiments were conducted at cutting speed of 140, 200, 260, and 320 m/min. Feed and depth of cut were kept constant and their values were 0.20 mm/rev and 1 mm, respectively. Experimental observations depicts that AlTiCrN coated insert demonstrated better performance because of its good adhesion and high oxidation resistance followed by TiN/TiAlN coated insert. TiN/TiAlN coated insert exhibited higher cutting temperature than AlTiCrN and AlTiN coated inserts. The findings of the study should also provide economic machining solution in case of dry turning of SS 304 stainless steel.     

Wear monitoring of single point cutting tool using acoustic emission techniques

This paper examines the flank and crater wear characteristics of coated carbide tool inserts during dry turning of steel workpieces. A brief review of tool wear mechanisms is presented together with new evidence showing that wear of the TiC layer on both flank and rake faces is dominated by discrete plastic deformation, which causes the coating to be worn through to the underlying carbide substrate when machining at high cutting speeds and feed rates. Wear also occurs as a result of abrasion, as well as cracking and attrition, with the latter leading to the wearing through the coating on the rake face under low speed conditions. When moderate speeds and feeds are used, the coating remains intact throughout the duration of testing. Wear mechanism maps linking the observed wear mechanisms to machining conditions are presented for the first time. These maps demonstrate clearly that transitions from one dominant wear mechanism to another may be related to variations in measured tool wear rates. Comparisons of the present wear maps with similar maps for uncoated carbide tools show that TiC coatings dramatically expand the range of machining conditions under which acceptable rates of tool wear might be experienced. However, the extent of improvement brought about by the coatings depends strongly on the cutting conditions, with the greatest benefits being seen at higher cutting speeds and feed rates. Among these methods, tool condition monitoring using Acoustic Techniques (AET) is an emerging one. Hence, the present work was carried out to study the stability, applicability and relative sensitivity of AET in tool condition monitoring in turning.     

Effect of machining parameters on surface roughness and material removal rate in finish turning of ±30° glass fibre reinforced polymer pipes

This paper studies the effect of varying machining parameters in turning on surface roughness and material removal rate (m.r.r.) for ±30° filament wound glass fibre reinforced polymers (GFRP) in turning operations using coated tungsten carbide inserts under dry cutting conditions. The paper describes the development of an empirical model for turning GFRP utilising factorial experiments. Second order predictive model covering speed, feed, depth of cut and tool nose radius has been developed at 95% confidence interval for surface roughness and material removal rate. Contour plots of the surface roughness and m.r.r. for different machining conditions have been generated from the empirical equations. Overlaid contour graph help in obtaining iso-value of roughness for different values of m.r.r.     

Machinability Study of Laser Surface Treated 15-5 PH Stainless Steel

In this work, 15-5 PH stainless steel which is one of the hard to machine materials has been selected to investigate the machinability characteristics under dry cutting condition with the aid of laser surface treatment process. Turning experiments were performed on the laser surface treated 15-5 PH samples with TiAlN coated tungsten carbide inserts. Machinability of both as received and laser surface treated samples were evaluated in terms of microstructure, microhardness, tangential cutting force, surface roughness, chip morphology and tool wear. Experimental consequences revealed that laser surface treated sample exhibits a remarkable effect on microstructure and microhardness. From the parametric analysis, it is found that machining of laser surface treated samples are beneficial in terms of reducing cutting force and are effective in prolonging tool life when compared with that of as received samples.     

Study on the influential process parameters in machining the austempered ductile iron

Since the machinability data on grade 3 austempered ductile iron is scarce, this experimental work mainly focuses on the impact of machining parameters on cutting force and surface roughness while turning the above work material with cubic boron nitride and tungsten carbide inserts. Parameters like depth of cut, cutting speed and feed were considered in this study when analyzing the machinability of austempered ductile iron. Austempered ductile iron was turned with CBN and coated WC inserts. The response surface methodology was utilized to design the experiments and optimize the cutting parameters for the work material by each of the above inserts. The cubic boron nitride insert performs well as compared to the coated tungsten carbide for turning the austempered ductile iron and it has been concluded by taking lower force and higher surface finish in to consideration. The optimum parameters for turning austempered ductile iron with the cubic boron nitride insert is as follows: 174 meter/minute cutting speed, 0.102 millimeter/revolution feed and depth of cut of 0.5 millimeter.     

不同后处理对MT-TiCN涂层刀具组织与切削性能的影响

目的研究不同后处理工艺(包括热处理、湿喷砂和刃口处理)对MT-TiCN涂层组织与刀片切削性能的影响。方法采用中温化学气相沉积技术在硬质合金刀片上制备TiCN涂层;利用光学显微镜(OM)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)、纳米压痕仪分析MT-TiCN涂层的组织形貌、相结构、硬度和弹性模量;在AISI 4340合金钢上进行车削试验。结果 MT-TiCN涂层呈柱状晶结构,涂层沿(422)晶面方向择优生长,且织构系数达5.5;涂层表面和断口平均硬度分别为26.6 GPa和30.7~31.8 GPa,平均弹性模量分别为528.6 GPa和467.7~494.4 GPa;在连续车削条件下,经湿喷砂处理的涂层刀片切削性能最佳;在低切深、低进给断续车削工况下,湿喷砂后又经热处理和刃口处理的涂层刀片使用寿命最长;湿喷砂后再进行热处理,对刀具的切削性能影响较小。结论湿喷砂和热处理对MT-TiCN涂层组织的影响较小;不同后处理工艺对涂层刀具切削性能的影响较大,这主要是因为刃口处理会减小涂层厚度同时提高涂层韧性。     

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.     

Cost-effective way of hard turning with newly developed HSN2-coated tool

EN-31 (AISI 52100, hardness 55 HRC) is one of the difficult-to-cut steel alloys and it is commonly used in shafts and bearings. Nowadays, it is becoming a challenge to the cutting tool material for economical machining of extremely tough and hard steels. In general, CBN and PCBN tools are used for machining hardened steel. However, machining cost using these tools becomes higher due to high tool cost. For this purpose, carbide tool using selective coatings is the best substitute having comparable tool life, while its cost is approximately one-tenth of CBN tool. In this work, the newly developed second-generation TiAlxN super nitride (i.e., HSN²) is selected for PVD coating on carbide tool insert and further characterized using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry for oxidation and thermal stability at high temperature. Later, HSN²-coated carbide inserts are successfully tested for their sustainability to expected tool life for turning of AISI 52100 steel. In the present study, forces, surface finish, and tool wear are used as a measure to appraise the performance of hard turning process. Experimentally, it is found that speed, feed rate, and depth of cut have considerable impact on forces, insert wear, and surface roughness of the machined surface.     

Drehen und Fräsen pulvermetallurgischer Hartlegierungen für warmgehende Werkzeuge

Turning and Milling of Powder Metallurgical Hard Alloys for Tools in Hot Working Applications Hard metals are high wear resistant materials. The microstructure of these composites consists of hard phases which are embedded in a metal matrix. The high hardness and the high content of the hard phases lead to a difficult machining of these materials. The present study investigates the turning and milling of D3 cold work steel (X210 Cr 12) and the powder metallurgical Fe‐based alloys ASP60 and ASP23 + WC/W₂C. The cutting tool materials were polycrystalline cubic boron nitrides (CBN) and ceramic inserts. The machining process could be judged by means of tool wear and machining quality (surface roughness and changes in the surface near zone). The investigations illustrate that the machinability of the different hard metals depends on the cutting speed and the cutting tool material.     

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.     

Numerical simulation of finish hard turning for AISI H13 die steel

A coupled thermo-mechanical model of plane-strain orthogonal turning of hardened steel was presented. In general, the flow stress models used in computer simulation of machining processes are a function of effective strain, effective strain rate and temperature developed during the cutting process. However, these models do not adequately describe the material behavior in hard machining, where the workpiece material is machined in its hardened condition. This hardness modifies the strength and work hardening characteristics of the material being cut. So, the flow stress of the work-material was taken with literature [H. Yan, J. Hua, R. Shivpuri, Development of flow stress model for hard machining of AISI H13 work tool steel. The Fourth International Conference on Physical and Numerical Simulation of Materials Processing, Shanghui in China, 2004, p. 5] in order to take into account the effect of the large strain, strain-rate, temperature and initial workpiece hardness. Then a series of numerical simulations had been done to investigate the effect of machining parameters on the machinability of hardened steel AISI H13 in finish turning process. The results obtained are helpful for optimizing process parameters and improving the design of cutting inserts in finish turning of hardened steel AISI H13.     

Investigations on hard machining of Impax Hi Hard tool steel

In this paper, experimental investigations are carried out by end milling process on hardened tool steel, Impax Hi Hard (Hardness 55 HRC) a newly developed tool steel material used by tool and die making industries. Experiments are performed with an aim to study performance investigations of machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed, depth of cut and width of cut with consideration of multiple responses viz. volume of material removed, tool wear, tool life and surface finish to evaluate the performance of PVD coated carbide inserts and ball end mill cutters. It has been observed through scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction technique (EDX) that chipping and adhesion are active tool wear mechanisms and saw-toothed chips are formed while machining of Impax Hi Hard steel. It is also noticed out that tool life is not enhanced while machining with minimum quantity lubricant than dry machining. From the investigations, it is observed that hard machining can be considered as an alternative to grinding and EDM, traditional methods of machining difficult-to-machine materials i.e. hardened steel with hardness greater than 50 HRC with a scope of improved productivity, increased flexibility, decreased capital expenses and reduced environmental waste.