An investigation of optimum cutting conditions in turning nodular cast iron using carbide inserts with different nose radius

Abstract

Ductile iron can be produced to have different properties through proper control of heat treatments and additives that is directly related to the microstructure. The nodular form of the graphite imparts beneficial characteristics for this alloy. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of main process parameters, namely, feed rate, depth of cut, cutting speed and tool node radius on the surface roughness in nodular cast iron during turning operation. The concerned cutting tools used are turning tools with carbide inserts with tool nose radius of 0.4 and 0.8 mm. Three levels of cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut are investigated. Surface roughness Ra was measured for each combination of machining conditions. Design of experiment tools were implemented to develop a model that relates the process variables to the resulting surface roughness. The model revealed the individual contribution of each parameter as well as the interaction among parameters to impart a change on the surface quality. The results showed that the feed rate and tool nose radius had the major contribution and to a lesser extent comes the role of cutting speed and depth of cut for controlling surface roughness. Minimum roughness was achieved at higher cutting speed, lower feed rate and lower depth of cut for the higher nose radius. Metal removal rate, as a measure for productivity, was also calculated and multi-objective optimization was conducted to minimize Ra and maximize metal removal rate simultaneously. Optical microscopy, on the effect of nose radius for the optimum process parameters for minimum Ra, revealed that for lower nose radius there are more occasions of graphite pullouts that affected the surface quality adversely.