Effect of cutting parameters on tool wear, cutting force and surface roughness in machining of MDN431 alloy using Al and Fe coated tools

Abstract

Thin solid films are used in cutting tools in order to improve its performance, reduce tool wear and improve tool life. Cathodic arc evaporation is the state of art PVD technique widely accepted in industries for the development of thin solid films. The turning cutting tool inserts are coated with AlCN/AlC and FeCrN monolayer thin solid films using cathodic arc evaporation technique. Quality characteristics of thin films are estimated using Calo and VDI3198 tests. Thickness of the coatings are found to be 1.430 and 1.475 μm for AlCN/AlC and FeCrN coatings respectively and adhesion quality of HF1 is attained. Performance of the thin solid films are evaluated in machining MDN431 steel with range of cutting speed (59–118 m min−1), feed rate (0.062–0.125 mm/rev) and depth of cut (0.2–0.4 mm). Experiments are performed based on full factorial design and regression analysis. Optimization of the process parameters is carried out using combined techniques of desirability and Particle swarm optimisation (PSO). The objective of the study is to establish correlation between machining parameters with cutting force, tool wear and surface roughness. Optimal process parameter for least cutting force and surface roughness are obtained for coatings. ANN has been adopted to improve the coefficient of determination (CoD) and capability of predictive regression models. ANN trained model and mathematical regression models are adequate to predicted the responses, which follows the experimental data with minimum absolute error. The AlCN/AlC coatings exhibited lower cutting forces and surface roughness than FeCrN coated tools. Tool wear was reduced by 3.62 times in AlCN/AlC and 1.63 times in FeCrN coated tools compared to uncoated tool which is due to increased hardness and elastic modulus of the coating.