Experimental study on the meso-scale milling of tungsten carbide WC-17.5Co with PCD end mills

Abstract

Tungsten carbide is a material that is very difficult to cut, mainly owing to its extreme wear resistance. Its high value of yield strength, accompanied by extreme brittleness, renders its machinability extremely poor, with most tools failing. Even when cutting with tool materials of the highest quality, its mode of cutting is mainly brittle and marred by material cracking. The ductile mode of cutting is possible only at micro levels of depth of cut and feed rate. This study aims to investigate the possibility of milling the carbide material at a meso-scale using polycrystalline diamond (PCD) end mills. A series of end milling experiments were performed to study the effects of cutting speed, feed per tooth, and axial depth of cut on performance measures such as cutting forces, surface roughness, and tool wear. To characterize the wear of PCD tools, a new approach to measuring the level of damage sustained by the faces of the cutter’s teeth is presented. Analyses of the experimental data show that the effects of all the cutting parameters on the three performance measures are significant. The major damage mode of the PCD end mills is found to be the intermittent micro-chipping. The progress of tool damage saw a long, stable, and steady period sandwiched between two short, abrupt, and intermittent periods. Cutting forces and surface roughness are found to rise with increments in the three cutting parameters, although the latter shows signs of reduction during the initial increase in cutting speed only. The results of this study find that an acceptable surface quality (average roughness $$R_{\text{a}} 600\,{\text{mm}}$$) can be obtained under the conditions of the given cutting parameters. It indicates that milling with PCD tools at a meso-scale is a suitable machining method for tungsten carbides.