FACTORS AFFECTING SURFACE ROUGHNESS IN FINISH TURNING OF GRAY CAST IRON

The objective of this study was to ascertain the effect of tool wear on surface roughness and develop a more thorough understanding of the process variables affecting surface roughness. Experimental data from a finish turning operation on gray cast iron with uncoated tungsten carbide tools was used to develop a model for surface roughness as a function of cutting speed, feed rate, nose radius of the tool and the amount of wear on the tool. The experiment was statistically designed to minimize the number of runs. Tool wear was treated as a variable notwithstanding the fact that it is one of the responses of the process. The results showed that surface roughness is significantly affected by tool wear and the interactions between tool wear and other variables like cutting speed, feed rate and nose radius. The results also provide better insight into the problem of “adaptive” process control for finish turning operations.