Crater wear mechanism of wc-co tools at high cutting speeds

Abstract

To clarify the mechanism of crater wear when carbon steel is turned by a WC-Co at high speed, the crater surface, chip underside and wear debris were examined with a scanning electron microscope, an electron probe microanalyser, an ion microprobe analyser and an X-ray diffractometer. Crater wear is not due to carbon diffusion from the tool carbides into the chips to form complex carbides; it arises because tungsten, titanium, tantalum and carbon from the carbides diffuse atomically directly into the chips and because the carbides are abraded by hard inclusions in the carbon steel.