Hard turning of high-carbon high chromium tool steel using CBN tools under different lubricating/cooling conditions

Abstract

The application of environment-friendly cutting fluid in machining processes can strongly influence the wear on the cutting tools and the surface finish on workpiece materials. This is only possible, when the cutting fluid provides better penetration into the cutting zone, thereby providing a better cooling and lubricating effect. Therefore, this study aims to show the effect of various cutting fluid cooling conditions and machining parameters on tool flank wear (VB) and surface roughness (Ra) of the work piece while turning AISID2 steel with coated CBN tools. By adopting RSM technique with FCCD and using analysis of variance, the effect of cutting parameters on desired outputs was explored. The results showed that machining time was the most dominant parameter influencing both tool wear and surface roughness. Moreover, cutting fluid conditions also showed considerable contribution towards decreasing tool wear rate and increasing surface finish. In addition, the cutting tools were examined under scanning electron microscope (SEM) together with EDS. It was observed that abrasion along with BUE formation were the most dominant wear mechanism modes at low cutting speeds. However, at higher cutting speed and feed combinations, abrasions followed by diffusion and adhesion were the dominant form of wear mechanisms. Suppression of BUE was observed at higher cutting speeds of CBN tools. Finally, desirability function approach (DFA) was used to find out the optimal cutting parameters for minimum tool wear with the maximum surface finish .