Tool life and tool wear during high-speed rough milling using alternative cutter path strategies

Abstract

The paper is concerned with a feasibility study of tool life and tool wear when employing high depths of cut (between 10 and 20 mm) and different cutter path strategies in the high-speed milling (HSM) of hardened die/mould steel. Following a review of previous work, experimental data are presented on the peripheral milling of hardened AISI H13 steel (HRC 52) using raster, single-direction raster and offset machining strategies. Coated carbide corner-radius end mills with a diameter of 10mm were employed with a fixed cutting speed of 314m/min and a feed per tooth of 0.067mm. From the experimental results it was realized that a raster cutter path strategy (combination of up and down milling) combined with high-depth roughing achieved the lowest tool wear. The offset strategy achieved the lowest tool life at all axial depths of cut within the range investigated. The experimental results clearly show that cutter path strategies and axial depths of cut have a significant effect on the tool life and tool wear for the cutters employed.