Machining investigation of textured tungsten carbide tools

Abstract

Dry machining is viable substitute to the adverse effects of cutting fluids on the environment. However, dry machining increased adhesion and friction between the machining surfaces that leads to rise in surface temperature and hence the tool life gets reduced. To overcome this, the concept of texturing on tool surfaces was introduced. These textures were found to be efficient in reducing adhesion and friction between the machining surfaces. This ensued increase in tool life and decrease in tool wear. This paper presents the effect of surface textures (inclined, crossed and parallel) on the machining performance like material removal rate (MRR) and tool wear rate (TWR) of tungsten carbide tools. For this, the turning operations were performed in lathe machine following Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array with three control factors and three levels each, viz. spindle speed (290, 480 and 700 rpm), feed rate (0.06, 0.14, 0.2 mm/rev) and depth of cut (0.2, 0.4, 0.6 mm). It has been observed that inclined textured tools have highest MRR followed by parallel and crossed textures, respectively. On the other hand, inclined textured tools have the lowest wear rate followed by crossed and parallel textured, respectively.