Modelling tool wear in cemented-carbide machining alloy 718

Tool wear is a problem in turning of nickel-based superalloys, and it is thus of great importance to understand and quantitatively predict tool wear and tool life. In this paper, an empirical tool wear model has been implemented in a commercial finite element (FE) code to predict tool wear. The tool geometry is incrementally updated in the FE chip formation simulation in order to capture the continuous evolution of wear profile as pressure, temperature and relative velocities adapt to the change in geometry. Different friction and wear models have been analysed, as well as their impact on the predicted wear profile assessed. Analyses have shown that a more advanced friction model than Coulomb friction is necessary in order to get accurate wear predictions, by drastically improving the accuracy in predicting velocity, thus having a dramatic impact on the simulated wear profile. Excellent experimental agreement was achieved in wear simulation of cemented carbide tool machining alloy 718.