Investigate on effect of cryogenic cooling on oxidation wear of WC-Co carbide tool milling titanium alloy

Abstract

For titanium alloy at high cutting speed, the severe tool wear will ineluctably take place diminishing the available tool life because of the high instantaneous temperature rise. Especially the WC-Co material in carbide tool will be reacted with the oxygen element in the air and generate oxide, and the tool oxidation wear is inevitable. In milling Ti–6Al–4V alloy operations, this article presents the first comprehensive investigation on the oxidation wear effect of cryogenic cooling on carbide tool compared with the conventional cooling. Based on the Gibbs free energy of the chemical reaction, the machining characteristics of the oxidation reactions were analyzed in detail. A series of machining testes were executed adopting controllable cryogenic cooling milling system. The surface and cross-section morphology and phase composition characteristics of tool were measured by SEM and XRD measuring equipments, as well as the oxidation wear mechanism of tool in cryogenic cooling. The results show that the thermal oxidation degree of the elements of WC-Co is higher in the conventional cooling processing. After cryogenic cooling intervention, oxidation reactions in tool are reduced significantly. Even the most probable reaction is disappeared, and the oxidation degree is decreased. When the temperature drops to 180 K, it has the best cooling effect. In cryogenic, the effective binding of WC crystal particle to the adhesive phase Co is a major factor for inhabiting oxidation wear of tool. The investigations indicate that the cryogenic cooling method can effectively inhibit the oxidation effect of carbide tool in milling titanium alloy process, and it improves the resist oxidation ability of tool.