Module 3

Cutting tool Materials, Geometry and

Surface finish
Introduction
 Till the year 1900, machining had been carried out using cutting tools made of
plain high-carbon steel or air hardening alloy steel known as Mushet steel.
 Taylor discovered the use of high speed steel as a tool material. Its higher hot
hardness and wear resistance made it possible to machine materials at much
higher speeds.
 Another important development occurred in 1926 when sintered tungsten carbide
tools were manufactured using powder metallurgy technique. These can be used
at much higher cutting speeds than the high- speed steel tools.
 Recently cemented titanium carbide tool is been exploited as tool material.
Though it is more wear resistant than tungsten carbide, it is also more brittle.
 Boron nitride has hardness next only to diamond. The permissible machining
speeds with borozone tools are as high as eight times of those with cemented
carbides.
 Even diamond bonded to a carbide base has been used as a tool material.
Desirable properties of tool materials.
1. Wear resistance : Wear of tool is caused by abrasion, adhesion and
diffusion.
 Abrasive action – Chip flow over rake face under intense pressure, and
rubbing action of the machined surface with the tool flank.
 Abrasive action is greater if the work material is hard.
 Adhesion - gradual loss of tool material when its particles adhere to the chip
or the machined surface and get torn away.
 Diffusion wear – Transfer of atoms of hard alloy constituents of tool
material into work or chip material, resulting in weakening of the tool.
2. Hot Hardness : It is a measure of the ability of a tool material to retain its
hardness even at elevated temperatures.
 Higher the cutting speed, higher is the cutting temperature and productivity.
3. Toughness
 It is the ability of a material to absorb deformation energy before fracture.
 Tougher the material, it can withstand the impact loads and intermittent cuts.
 Materials which are wear resistant, and have high hot hardness, are also more
brittle and, therefore, less tough.
4. Other desirable properties
 Should possess high thermal conductivity
 Low coefficient of thermal expansion.
 It should be easy to regrind.
 Should not get distorted during heat treatment.
Characteristics of cutting tool materials
High carbon steel
 The high carbon steel contains 0.6 to 1.5% carbon.
 Small percentage of Si, Mn, Cr, and Vn increase tool hardness.
 Easy to manufacture and cutting edge can be easily sharpened.
 Chief drawback is low wear resistance and hot hardness.
 Loose hardness rapidly at temperatures greater than 200° C.
 So it is used for those application where cutting temperature is well below
200° C, e.g. in making cutters, twist drills.
 Widely used in manufacture of hand tools like taps, files, reamers.
High Speed Steel
 It is an alloy steel to which alloying elements like tungsten, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum
and cobalt are added beside some percent of carbon to increase hot hardness and wear
resistance.
 There are two types of HSS, namely T-type in which Tungsten is the major alloying element (12-
18%), and M-type in which Molybdenum is the major alloying element(8-12%).
 M- type HSS is cheaper and, therefore more widely used. It is also somewhat tougher and
harder than the T-type HSS.
 Both type of HSS contain atleast 4% chromium in order to obtain a good hardening action.
 Vanadium additions of 2-4% to HSS tend to increase its resistance against abration.
 Cobalt addition of 5-12% increases hot hardness.
 HSS is generally made by conventional method of alloy manufacture, also by powder
metallurgy technique and the electro-slag refining process.
 HSS is widely used for making drills and reamers, milling cutters, turning tools, taps, dies,
broaches, hobs, etc.
Coated high speed steel tools
 HSS are coated with thin layers(2 to 6µm thick) of a refractory carbide or
nitride e.g. titanium carbide, titanium nitride and alumina.
 Two coating methods are: (i) Physical vapor deposition(PVD) and (ii) chemical
vapor deposition (CVD).
 Cost of coated tool is 2 to 5 times the cost of plain HSS tool.
 The life of a coated tool is 5 to 10 times the life of a plain HSS tool.
Cast alloys
 These cast-able non-ferrous alloys contain primarily cobalt(40-55%),
chromium(25-35%), tungsten(1.5-3%) and carbon(0-5%).
 Cobalt acts as a solvent matrix with chromium as major alloying element.
 Tungsten provides hardness to the material.
 Low percentage of carbon up to 1% make the tool tough and capable of
withstanding shock loads and higher carbon content make tool brittle.
Cemented carbides
 These are classified into two types, namely straight tungsten carbides and
alloyed tungsten carbides.
 Two main constituents of straight tungsten carbides are finely powdered
tungsten carbide(85-95%) and cobalt(5-15%) which act as bonding medium.
 The mixture is pressed to the desired shape and size and sintered in a hydrogen
or vacuum furnace.
 Alloyed tungsten carbide has additions of carbide of titanium and niobium, etc.
 Titanium carbide reduces the tendency of chips to weld to the tool.
 These are used in the form of small tips or inserts, which are brazed or
clamped to steel shanks.
Ceramics (Cemented carbides)
 Ceramics are also produced by sintering process.
 The main constituent is aluminium oxide (Alumina).
 Up to 10% additions of oxides of magnesium, titanium and chromium, are
often made to obtain superior properties.
 Ceramic tools retain their hardness up to 1400ºC.
 They have better resistance to abrasion wear.
 They exhibit a low coefficient of friction with most work materials.
 Ceramic tool tips are highly brittle.
 Ceramic tools can be used on hard-to-machine work materials, e.g. highly
abrasive cast-irons etc.
KYON
 KYON inserts are a recent development in tool materials.
 Kyon is a ceramic tool with alumina base and reinforced by silicon carbide
whiskers.
 Each whisker is a single elongated crystal of silicon carbide.
 The structure which consists of SiC fibres in ceramic matrix is very tough and
wear resistant.
 The inserts are suitable for intermittent cutting and machining of nickel based
alloys.
 The inserts may be used at cutting speeds two to three times that for plain
carbide tools.
Cutting Tool Geometry
 Fig. shows a typical right handed cutting tool.
 When the tool is engaged, cutting takes place mainly over the side cutting edge.
 The corner(nose) and a small portion of the end cutting edge are also involved in the
cutting.
 The chip flows over the rake face.
 The side flank and end flanks of the tool are relieved so as to avoid contact with the
machined surface.
 The two relief angles are called the side relief angle and end relief angle respectively.
 The inclination of the side cutting edge with the longitudinal axis of the shank, and the
inclination of the end cutting edge with the width direction of the shank are called the
side cutting edge angle and the end cutting edge angle respectively.
 The rake face may be inclined with respect to the base.
 The angle of inclination of side cutting edge with the horizontal plane is Back rake
angle.
 The angle of inclination of rake face with the horizontal plane is called Side rake angle.
CUTTING FLUID
Cutting fluid is a type of coolant and lubricant designed specifically for metalworking
processes.

Benefits of using cutting fluids

 Reduction of cutting forces and energy consumption.
 Increase in tool life due to cooling effects.
 Improved surface finish and accuracy of size.
 Easy removal of chips.
 Less distortion of work piece due to cooling effect.
 Corrosion prevention on work piece.
 Lubrication of machine tool slide ways.
Properties of cutting fluid
 Good lubricating property
 High heat absorption capacity
 Emit no toxic fumes when put on a hot surface
 Chemical stability
 High flash point
 Harmless to health of workers
 Should have good smell.
Methods of applying cutting fluids
 1st method- In machine tools, the coolant system consists of a pump mounted on a tank
containing the cutting fluid. The outlet of the pump is connected to a nozzle through a
flexible pipe. The nozzle can be adjusted to direct a stream of the fluid at the desired
point(cutting zone). This is also known as Flood application.
 2nd method- In this method, fluid is passed through a specially designed nozzle so that it
forms very fine droplets of cutting fluid or produces a mist. The drop size may range
from 5 to 25µm. This mist is directed at the cutting zone at a high velocity. This method
is called mist application.
 The advantage of mist application over flood application is, during mist formation the
temperature of fluid falls due to expansion, and therefore, it can absorb more heat.
 A recent method of application is “high jet method”. In this method a narrow jet at
high velocity is directed at the flank surface of the cutting tool.
Surface finish
Surface finish refers to the following properties of a machined surface.
 Roughness : It consists of relatively closely-spaced or fine surface irregularities, mainly in
the form of feed marks left by the cutting tool on the machined surface.
 The mean height or depth of irregularities is measured over a relatively small length (about
1mm) called the cutoff length or sampling length.
 Waviness : It consists of all surface irregularities whose spacing is greater than the
roughness sampling length.
 Vibration, tool and work piece deflections due to cutting loads and cutting temperature may
cause waviness.
 Lay : It denotes the predominant direction of the surface irregularities.
 The lay is usually specified with respect to an edge called the reference edge of the workpiece.
 Surface flaws : These are randomly spaced irregularities, i.e. which occur at some
particular location on the surface or at widely varying intervals.
 Flaws could be due to inherent defects, such as inclusions, cracks, blow-holes, etc. in the
workpiece that get exposed on machining.
Effect of Machining Parameters on surface finish
Surface finish is influenced by several parameters, which are as follows:
Cutting Tool Geometry :
 Larger the rake angles, smaller are the cutting forces. And when cutting forces are
small, deflection and waviness height are also small.
 Relief angles should be sufficient to prevent rubbing against the machined surfaces.
 The side and end cutting edges should be joined by a nose of sufficiently large radius to
reduce the sharpness or pointedness of the tool.
Workpiece Geometry :
 Long slender work pieces have low stiffness against both static and dynamic forces. So,
waviness effects are more pronounced.
 On the other hand, if workpiece is stiff( has large c/s), waviness height is small.
Machine Tool Rigidity and Accuracy :
 The machine tool affects surface finish mainly through the extent of its rigidity,
freedom from alignment errors and accuracy of motions.
Work piece material :
 In case of steels, carbon content is of great importance. Steels having 0.1% or less
carbon produce built up edge during chip formation and thereby spoil surface finish.
Addition of machining elements like Sulphur, selenium or lead helps to reduce this
tendency.
 Very low hardness and ductility are not suitable for good finish, because of the
tendency of the tool to dig into a material having such properties.
 On the other hand, high hardness and strength and low ductility result in good surface
finish.
 The nature and size of microconstituents also affects surface finish. Fine grain size and
high hardness of the microconstituents are favourable for obtaining good surface
finish.
 In machining of cast iron, surface roughness has been found to directly increase with
the size of free graphite particles.
Cutting conditions :
 Cutting speed, tends to improve surface finish.
 At low cutting speeds, the cutting forces are high and the tendency of work material to
form built-up edge is also stronger.
 At higher cutting speeds, cutting forces and tendency towards built-up edge formation
weakens due to increase in temperature and consequent decrease of frictional stress at
the rake face.
Tool Material :
 Different tool materials have different hot hardness, toughness and frictional behavior.
 High hot hardness enables the tool to be used at high cutting speeds well within the
insensitive region where built-up edge practically disappears.
 Cemented carbides are superior materials in this respect as compared to Carbon steels &
HSS.
 Smaller the friction between the tool and work-material better is the surface finish
produced on the work piece.
 Carbides in this respect are somewhat superior to HSS.
Cutting Fluid :
 Cutting fluid has only an indirect effect on surface finish.
 By acting as a coolant, it reduces tool wear and keeps the cutting edge intact.
 By acting as a lubricant, it tends to reduce friction between the sliding surfaces of the tool,
work and chip.
 These effects tends to improve to a limited extent the surface finish of the machined
surface.