Advances in Metal Cutting and Cutting Tools

Cutting simulations via the Finite Element Method (FEM) have recently gained more significance due to ever increasing computational performance and thus better resulting accuracy. However, these simulations are still time consuming and therefore cannot be deployed for an in situ evaluation of the machining processes in an industrial environment. This is due to the high non-linear nature of FEM simulations of machining processes, which require considerable computational resources. On the other hand, machine learning methods are known to capture complex non-linear behaviors. One of the most widely applied material models in cutting simulations is the Johnson–Cook material model, which has a great influence on the output of the cutting simulations and contributes to the non-linear behavior of the models, but its influence on cutting forces is sometimes difficult to assess beforehand. Therefore, this research aims to capture the highly non-linear behavior of the material model by using a dataset of multiple short-duration cutting simulations from Abaqus to learn the relationship of the Johnson–Cook material model parameters and the resulting cutting forces for a constant set of cutting conditions. The goal is to shorten the time to simulate cutting forces by encapsulating complex cutting conditions in dependence of material parameters in a single model. A total of five different models are trained and the performance is evaluated. The results show that Gradient Boosted Machines capture the influence of varying material model parameters the best and enable good predictions of cutting forces as well as deliver insights into the relevance of the material parameters for the cutting and thrust forces in orthogonal cutting. Full article

Precision edge preparation techniques for cemented carbides enable optimization of the geometry of tools’ cutting edges. These techniques are frequently used in high-stress environments, resulting in substantial improvements in tools’ cutting performance. This investigation examined the impact and evolution of cutting edge parameters and resulting surface finishes as a function of dry-electropolishing time on an end-mill. Findings demonstrate enlargement of the cutting edge radius, a decrease in surface roughness, and the mitigation of defects induced during previous manufacturing stages (i.e., smashed ceramic particles, burrs, chipping, etc.). Additionally, a direct correlation between dry-electropolishing time and primary cutting edges’ micro-geometry parameters has been established. Full article

The most effective and cutting-edge method for achieving a 0.004 mm precision on a typical material is to employ die-sinking electrical discharge machining (EDM). The material removal rate (MRR), tool wear rate (TWR), residual stresses, and crater depth were analyzed in the current study in an effort to increase the productivity and comprehension of the die-sinking EDM process. A parametric design was employed to construct a two-dimensional model, and the accuracy of the findings was verified by comparing them to prior research. Experiments were conducted utilizing the EDM machine, and the outcomes were assessed in relation to numerical simulations of the MRR and TWR. A significant temperature disparity that arises among different sections of the workpiece may result in the formation of residual strains throughout. As a consequence, a structural model was developed in order to examine the impacts of various stress responses. The primary innovations of this paper are its parametric investigation of residual stresses and its use of Haynes 25, a workpiece material that has received limited attention despite its numerous benefits and variety of applications. In order to accurately forecast the output parameters, a deep neural network model, more precisely, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) regressor, was utilized. In order to improve the precision of the outcomes and guarantee stability during convergence, the L-BFGS solver, an adaptive learning rate, and the Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function were integrated. Extensive parametric studies allowed us to determine the connection between key inputs, including the discharge current, voltage, and spark-on time, and the output parameters, namely, the MRR, TWR, and crater depth. Full article

Cutting tools undergo constant development to meet the demands of higher cutting speeds, difficult-to-cut materials and ecological considerations. One way to improve cutting tools involves transitioning from soldering to adhesive bonding in the manufacturing process. However, there is limited research comparing adhesively bonded tools with soldered tools in woodcutting applications. This paper presents a comparison between adhesively bonded and soldered tools in the cutting of medium-density fiberboards over a cutting distance of 1000 m. The results indicate that adhesively bonded tools are well-suited for machining medium-density fiberboards. Additionally, the cutting-edge radii exhibit a slower increase and the tool temperatures are higher compared to soldered tools. Future research could optimize the damping effect through the precise design of the bonding area. Additionally, investigating a cooling concept for the machining process could help minimize ageing effects. Full article

This article presents the results of an experimental study on improving the durability of cup cutters through pre-processing. A review of existing methods of increasing the durability of metal-cutting tools is carried out. The conducted experiments and simulations confirmed the application of pre-processing to increase the durability of cup cutters and the hardening of the cutting part after pre-processing, which approves the formation of a secondary contact structure in the pre-processing process. Dependence for determining a period of the durability of cup cutters at various regimes of pre-processing is deduced. Full article

The paper presents the microstructural characterization of the chip roots in high-speed steels and ceramic Ti₃SiC₂. The process of chip formation and the obtaining of adequate samples were carried out using the quick-stop method. The tests were carried out during the milling process; the “quick stop” method was carried out in order to obtain samples of the chip roots. This method was developed in-house by the authors. The chip roots were microscopically studied by means of a light microscope (LM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Before the actual analysis, preparation was performed based on the standard metallographic technique. The analysis of the high-speed steels samples showed that, for the used cutting conditions, a discontinuous chip with a built-up edge (BUE) was formed. During the processing of the Ti₃SiC₂ ceramic, a significant difference was manifested in the chip formation process and a powder-like chip was produced. After utilizing a careful cutting process, a chip pattern was observed, from which it is evident that chip breakage during ceramic processing occurs without prior plastic deformation. In addition, the cutting force F_c was also measured during the milling process of the high-speed steels and the ceramic, and it was correlated with the cutting speed, feed per tooth and depth of cut. Full article

This work characterises the structure and mechanical properties, such as adhesion, of two different chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coatings deposited onto silicon aluminium oxynitride (Si₃N₄ + Al₂O₃ + Y₂O₃) round (RNGN) milling cutter tooling inserts. These inserts are often known by the trade abbreviation “SiAlON”. Wear was produced on the inserts using unidirectional sliding (pin-on-disc type) and scratch testing. Two coatings were investigated: a multilayer CVD coating (Coating A) with a composition of TiN + TiCN + Al₂O₃ and a bilayer coating (Coating B) with a composition of Al₂O₃ + TiN. Microstructural analysis was conducted after wear testing and Coating B demonstrated high stability when subjected to high alternating shear and tensile stresses, high abrasion resistance and very high adhesion to the SiAlON ceramic insert substrate when compared to Coating A. Coating A demonstrated a low capacity to distribute alternating shear and tensile stresses during the pin-on-disc and scratch testing, which led to failure. The scratch and pin-on-disc results from this study correlate highly with completed machining insert wear analysis that has used Coating A and Coating B SiAlON inserts to machine aged Inconel 718. Full article

Large cylindrical worm gear set of ISO type I are manufactured using endmill tools on universal CNC machine tools. This manufacturing method requires neither special gear-generating machines nor special tools. The tooth flank forms of ISO type I cylindrical worm gears are involute helicoids as a standard. The targeted theoretical tooth flanks of the worm and the mating worm wheel are determined based on a tooth contact analysis (TCA) of such worm gear set. The cutting conditions of the worm are determined after the offset distance between the worm axis, and the central axis of the endmill tool is calculated. Afterward, the worm is manufactured by controlling only two axes on machine tools using a swarf milling method by use of the side of the endmill tool under the determined conditions. Meanwhile, the targeted theoretical tooth flanks of the mating worm wheel are modeled in 3-dimensional computer-aided design software, and the worm wheel is manufactured by a swarf milling method in a computer-aided manufacturing process. The comparison of experimental and analytical tooth contact patterns indicates almost no difference between the two tooth contact patterns. Full article

During machining processes, a high temperature is generated in the cutting zone due to deformation of the material and friction of the chip along the surface of the tool. This high temperature has a detrimental effect on the cutting tool, and for this reason, it is of the utmost importance to assess the cutting temperature in real time during these processes. Despite all the advances and investigation in this field, accurately measuring the cutting temperature remains a great challenge. In this sense, this work intends to contribute to solving this problem by experimentally evaluating the potential of the developed approach for embedding thermocouples into the rake face of cutting tools for measuring cutting temperature in real time during dry turning of AISI 1045 steel for different cutting parameters and comparing the obtained results with infrared thermography measurements at the exact same point. A well-defined, smooth micro-groove with good surface quality was produced by laser surface modification. Then a laser-welded K-type thermocouple was fixated in the micro-groove with a MgO ceramic adhesive, ensuring protection from wear and chips, which allowed the creation of WC-Co cutting inserts with the ability to measure cutting tool temperature with a maximum error of 0.96%. Results showed that, despite yielding the same trend, the tool temperature measured by the IR thermographic camera was always lower than the temperature measured by the K-type embedded thermocouple. The proposed embedded thermocouple method proved to be a reliable, precise, accurate, and cost-effective approach for real-time temperature measurement capable of providing useful information for cutting parameter optimization, thus allowing increased productivity and tool life. Full article

The magnetic abrasive finishing process using the magnetic machining tool was proposed to finish the internal surface of the thick tube (the thickness of the tube is 5~30 mm). It has been proved that this process can improve the roundness while improving the roughness. In this paper, we mainly study the machining mechanism of roundness improvement. Firstly, the influence of finishing characteristics on the roundness improvement was discussed, including the rotational speed of the magnetic machining tool and the rotational speed of the tube. It was concluded that the roundness improvement increases with the increase in the rotational speed through the analysis of finishing force and finishing times. Furthermore, the influence on roundness improvement of different distributions of magnetic particles were experimentally compared. After finishing, due to the magnetic force generated by the magnetic machining tool and the magnetic pole unit exerting pressure on the magnetic particles, a fixed magnetic brush is formed. The experimental results show that the circumferential length of the fixed magnetic brush is different due to the different distribution areas of magnetic particles. It was concluded that the roundness improvement increases with the circumferential length of the fixed magnetic brush increases by discussing the relationship between the circumferential length of the fixed magnetic brush and the wavelength of the roundness curve. When the circumferential length of the fixed magnetic brush is 76 mm, the roundness was improved from 379 μm to 236 μm after 60 min of finishing. Full article

Determination of the shear angle by experimental and analytical methods, as well as by numerical simulation, is presented. Experimental determination of the shear angle was performed by analyzing the chip roots obtained by the method of cutting process quick stop through purposeful fracture of the workpiece in the area surrounding the primary cutting zone. The analytical determination of the shear angle was carried out using the chip compression ratio and was based on the principle of a potential energy minimum. Measurement of the shear angle in the numerical simulation of orthogonal cutting was performed using the strain rate pattern of the machined material at the selected simulation moment. It was analyzed how the parameters of the Johnson–Cook constitutive equation and the friction model affect the shear angle value. The parameters with a predominant effect on the shear angle were determined. Then the generalized values of these parameters were established with a software algorithm based on identifying the intersection of the constitutive equation parameter sets. The use of generalized parameters provided the largest deviation between experimental and simulated shear angle values from 9% to 18% and between simulated and analytically calculated shear angle values from 7% to 12%. Full article

The objectives of this study are mainly two: (1) to validate whether a single grain scratch process can be modeled in two dimensions under the assumption of plane strain, and (2) to select the best discretization approach to model a single grain scratch process. This paper first focuses on the simulation of the orthogonal cutting process (aluminum alloy A2024 T351) using two mesh-based discretization approaches, the pure Lagrangian method (LAG) and the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method (ALE), and two particle-based approaches, the particle finite element method (PFEM) and smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH), for both positive and negative rake angles. Benchmarking of the orthogonal cutting models at a rake angle of $\gamma ={20}^{\circ }$ is performed with the results of the process forces (cutting and passive forces) of a turning experiment from the literature. It is shown that all models are able to predict the cutting forces, but not the passive force. The orthogonal cutting model is further extended to simulate the cutting mechanism with negative rake tool geometries typically found in grinding and single grit scratching processes. The effects of the negative rake angles on the discretization approaches are studied. The calculated process forces are also compared to the measurements of the single grit scratch process performed at our laboratory. The 2D orthogonal cutting models significantly overestimate the process forces. One of the reasons why the orthogonal 2D cutting model is inadequate is that it cannot describe the complex mechanisms of material removal such as rubbing, plowing, and cutting. To account for these phenomena in LAG, ALE, and SPH discretization approaches, a 3D scratch model is developed. When comparing the process forces of the 3D model with the experimental measurements, all three discretization approaches show good agreement. However, it can be seen that the ALE model most closely matches the process forces with the experimental results. Finally, the ALE 3D scratch model was subjected to sensitivity analysis by changing the cutting speed, the depth of cut and the tool geometry. The results clearly show that the ALE method not only predicts the process forces and form the trends observed in the scratching experiments, but also predicts the scratch topography satisfactorily. Hence, we conclude that a 3D model is necessary to describe a scratch process and that the ALE method is the best discretization method. Full article