Abstract
It is necessary to improve the machinability of difficult-to-cut materials such as hardened steel, nickel-based alloys, and titanium alloys as these materials offer superior properties such as chemical stability, corrosion resistance, and high strength to weight ratio, making them indispensable for many applications. Machining with self-propelled rotary tools (SPRT) is considered one of the promising techniques used to provide proper tool life even under dry conditions. In this work, an attempt has been performed to analyze, model, and optimize the machining process of AISI 4140 hardened steel using self-propelled rotary tools. Experimental analysis has been offered to (a) compare the fixed and rotary tools performance and (b) study the effect of the inclination angle on the surface quality and tool wear. Moreover, the current study implemented some artificial intelligence-based approaches (i.e., genetic programming and NSGA-II) to model and optimize the machining process of AISI 4140 hardened steel with self-propelled rotary tools. The feed rate, cutting velocity, and inclination angle were the selected design variables, while the tool wear, surface roughness, and material removal rate (MRR) were the studied outputs. The optimal surface roughness was obtained at a cutting speed of 240 m/min, an inclination angle of 20°, and a feed rate of 0.1 mm/rev. In addition, the minimum flank tool wear was observed at a cutting speed of 70 m/min, an inclination angle of 10°, and a feed rate of 0.15 mm/rev. Moreover, different weights have been assigned for the three studied outputs to offer different optimized solutions based on the designer’s interest (equal-weighted, finishing, and productivity scenarios). It should be stated that the findings of the current work offer valuable recommendations to select the optimized cutting conditions when machining hardened steel AISI 4140 within the selected ranges.
Highlights
Difficult-to-cut materials such as hardened steel, titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys, and ceramics are widely applied in many industrial fields, including aerospace, automotive, and biomedical [1]
A tool temperature model for machining using self-propelled rotary tools was developed by Kishawy et al [15], and the results proved that lower cutting temperature occurs in the case of rotary tools compared to fixed tools
The minimum flank tool wear was observed at test 6, where the cutting speed was 70 m/min, the inclination angle was 10◦, and the feed rate was 0.15 mm/rev
Summary
Difficult-to-cut materials such as hardened steel, titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys, and ceramics are widely applied in many industrial fields, including aerospace, automotive, and biomedical [1]. The superior properties of these materials, as shown, make them indispensable for many applications. Machining of these materials is always a challenge due to their low thermal conductivity, which leads to a high concentration of the generated heat in the cutting zone and allows the temperature to hit severe levels [2]. This excessive concentrated heat affects machining performance and tool wear behavior. Flood coolant is one of the widely used techniques to solve the concentrated heat problem by dissipating the generated heat to reduce the temperature
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