Investigation of coated and uncoated carbide cutting tool wear in dry turning of en aw 2007 aluminum alloy

Abstract

The automotive, aerospace and marine industries make extensive use of aluminum and its alloys to produce a wide variety of components. This prompts research work related to improving manufacturing processes using these materials. One of the main problems in this area is the durability of cutting tools. This article describes the results of tests on the wear of coated and uncoated carbide cutting tools during turning of EN AW 2007 aluminum alloy. The tests were carried out under dry conditions and at higher cutting speeds. On the face rake the VBB indicator (average width of flank wear), and on the rake face the KB indicator (crater width on the rake face) were evaluated. Only for the uncoated insert the break-in period, steady-state wear region and intensive wear was observed, and the limiting value of the VBB indicator was obtained after 36 minutes of tool life. The TiAlN+TiN coated insert, as well as TiCN achieved very short tool life periods of 16 and 24 minutes, respectively. Compared to the uncoated and TiCN coated insert, a VBB increase of about 170% was obtained for the TiAlN+TiN coated insert after 16 minutes. In contrast, an increase in the VBB of almost 60% was obtained for the TiCN coated insert after 24 minutes, compared to the uncoated insert. Compared to the uncoated insert, an increase of 12.1% in the KB value was obtained for the TiCN coated insert, and 18.2% for the TiAlN+TiN coated insert.