Computational Study of the Effect of Cutting Speeds on Tool Wear during Machining of AISI 316L Steel

Abstract

This research aims to study the effect of cutting speeds on wear behaviors of TiAlN coated insert during the machining process of AISI 316L steel. Experimental investigation and finite element method were employed. The two-dimensional (2D) plane strain orthogonal cutting model was focused at the initial continuous chip formation. The effect of cutting speeds, i.e. 50, 75,120 and 150 m/min, was studied. The tool wear behavior was then further investigated based on computational results which are temperature, von-mises equivalent stress, equivalent plastic strain and contact pressure. High temperature developed at rake face during high cutting speed, i.e. the cutting speed above 120 m/min, suggesting crater wear or diffusion wear. High equivalent plastic strain, i.e. greater than the fracture strain at failure of AISI 316L steel, were observed all along the tool edge around the contact area suggesting the built up edge (BUE) wear at all cutting speed investigated. The adhesive wear was expected on the edge radius at low cutting speed (50 to 75 m/min) based on the von-mises equivalent stress distributions. The overall severity of sliding wear was found to be around the tool nose due to high contact pressure in all cases. The experiments were also conducted with the tail stock constrained in all experiments to reduce the effect of vibration. The insert tool wear was examined by Scanning Electron Microscope. Wear was observed on flank face and rake face of the insert tools with different wear behavior at different cutting speed which agreed well with computational predictions.