Performance improvement of hard turning with solid lubricants

Product quality is one of the most important criteria for the assessment of hard turning process. However, in view of the high temperatures developed in hard turning process, the surface quality deteriorates due to the tool wear. Because of the strict environmental restrictions on the use of cutting fluids, new cutting techniques are required to be investigated to reduce the tool wear. In the present work, the use of solid lubricants during hard turning has been explored while machining bearing steel with mixed ceramic inserts at different cutting conditions and tool geometry. Results show considerable improvement in the surface finish with the use of solid lubricants. Due to the presence of solid lubricants, there is a decrease of surface roughness values from 8 to 15% as compared to dry hard turning.