ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

Review

Thermally enhanced machining of hard-to-machine materialsA review

S. Sun a,d,e,n, M. Brandt b,d,e, M.S. Dargusch c,d,e
a
IRIS, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
b
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia
c
School of Mining and Mechanical Engineering, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
d
CAST Cooperative Research Centre, Australia
e
Defence Materials Technology Centre, Australia

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: Thermally enhanced machining uses external heat sources to heat and soften the workpiece locally in
Received 16 February 2010 front of the cutting tool. The temperature rise at the shear zone reduces the yield strength and work
Received in revised form hardening of the workpiece, which make the plastic deformation of hard-to-machine materials easier
19 April 2010
during machining.
Accepted 21 April 2010
This review summarizes the up-to-date progress and benets of thermally enhanced machining
(with a focus on laser and plasma assistance) of ceramics, metals and metal matrix composites. It covers
Keywords: the integration of the external heat source with cutting tools, analysis of temperature distribution
Thermally enhanced machining around the cutting region, material removal mechanisms, tool wear mechanisms and the improvement
Heat source
in machinability of various engineering materials by the assistance of external heat source.
Machinability
& 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Material removal temperature
Cutting force
Tool wear

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
2. Heat sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
3. Integration of a laser beam with machining applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
3.1. Turning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
3.2. Milling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
3.3. Other machining operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
4. Temperature distribution due to external heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
5. Thermally enhanced machining of hard-to-machine materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
5.1. Ceramics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
5.1.1. Material removal mechanisms and chip formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
5.1.2. Cutting forces and specic cutting energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
5.1.3. Tool materials and wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
5.1.4. Surface integrity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672
5.2. Metals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
5.2.1. Titanium alloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
5.2.2. Nickel-based superalloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
5.2.3. Hardened steels and other metals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
5.3. Metal matrix composites (MMCs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
6. Optimization and energy efciency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
7. Non-traditional laser assisted machining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
7.1. Removal of material by the laser in front of the cutting tool [113,114]: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
7.2. Modication of microstructure in the to-be machined layer by the laser [115] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
8. Economic benets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

n
Corresponding author at: IRIS, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia.
E-mail address: ssun@groupwise.swin.edu.au (S. Sun).

0890-6955/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2010.04.008
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
664 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680

9. Concluding remarks and suggested future research topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

1. Introduction rise of the heated surface. The laser beam or plasma heats the
workpiece locally in front of the cutting tool, only the volume of
The demand for higher strength and heat resistant materials is material to be removed is effectively heated (Fig. 2). Therefore, the
increasing particularly in aerospace applications. However these heat affected zone and thermal distortion by the laser beam
materials are often difcult to machine due to their physical and during preheating are small due to the controllable spot size and
mechanical properties such as high strength and low thermal high power density. However, the low absorption of the laser
conductivity, which make the cutting forces and cutting tem- energy (especially the CO2 laser with a long wavelength of
perature very high and lead to a short tool life. 10.6 mm) by the metallic workpiece, such as Inconel 718 [10,13]
Because the ow stress and strain hardening rate of materials and steels [25,26], needs improving by applying a coating.
normally decrease with increasing temperature due to thermal A large thermal gradient through thickness exists due to the
softening (shown in Fig. 1 as the dependence of strength on local heating by the laser beam and plasma. It is hard to
temperature), thermally enhanced machining (TEM) becomes a characterize the effect of preheating temperature on the im-
possibility when machining the hard-to-machine materials. provement of machinability, therefore, a comprehensive analysis
Thermally enhanced machining is the process that uses an of the temperature distribution of the material before it enters the
external heat source to heat and soften the workpiece. As a result, cutting zone is required. The large thermal gradient enables the
the yield strength, hardness and strain hardening of the work- process to take the benet of high surface temperature without
piece reduce and deformation behaviour of the hard-to-machine affecting the integrity of the machined subsurface.
materials (especially ceramics) changes from brittle to ductile. This review of the thermally enhanced machining is focused on
This enables the difcult-to-machine materials to be machined the laser assisted machining (LAM) and plasma enhanced
more easily [2,3] and with low machine power consumption, machining (PEM). Some results of the effect of temperature are
which leads to increase in material removal rate and productivity. from other heat sources.

2. Heat sources

In order for it to be applied effectively during the thermally

Chip
enhanced machining, the heat source should be local, rapid
heating and be controllable. The external heat source used in TEM Cutting Laser beam
to heat the workpiece has been plasma [49], laser beam [2,1013], tool
gas torch [1416], induction heating [1720], furnace preheating
[21], electrical current heating [22] or electric arc. A comparison Heat affected zone
of the advantages and disadvantages of these heat sources can be
found in literature [23,24]. Inappropriate application of the heat
source may introduce undesirable microstructural change in the
workpiece after machining [6,14,16].
The advantages of laser beam and plasma arc heating over the
other heating methods are the rapid, high and local temperature

2000
ODS: Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Workpiece
Ni-Cr-Mo-steel
1600
Tensile strength (MPa)

Inconel 718 Grinding Wheel

1200
Ti6Al4V
Si3N4-ceramics (HPSN) Laser
beam
800
ODS-alloy

400
Stellite 6

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Temperature T (C) Heat affected zone Workpiece

Fig. 1. Effect of temperature on the ultimate tensile strength for various hard-to- Fig. 2. Illustration of laser assisted machining in (a) turning and (b) grinding
machine materials [1]. operations [2].
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S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
3. Integration of a laser beam with machining applications
The laser beam is positioned in such a way so as to achieve a
uniform temperature distribution at the cutting edge without heating
the cutting tool. This position depends on the machining operations.
3.1. Turning
For turning operations, it is relatively simple to integrate a
laser beam with the lathe due to the stationery nature of the
cutting tool. The laser beam variables are its position, spot size,
incident angle and toolbeam distance.
In most of the reported work on laser assisted turning, the
laser beam is normal to the workpiece surface [12,2731], as
shown in Fig. 3. The advantage of this arrangement is that the
machining is easy and does not result in heating of the machined
surface, but the large temperature gradient through thickness
exists at the cutting edge and the temperature might not be high
enough at the depth of cut for a deep cut. Furthermore, the cutting
tool surface is exposed to the heated workpiece surface. This may
be detrimental for cutting a workpiece material which has a high
chemical reactivity with the cutting tool.
Alternatively, the laser beam can be incident and normal to the
chamfer surface [3,13,32] (as shown in Fig. 4). Higher and uniform
reduction of cutting forces in the 3 directions is achieved with
this conguration [13,3234]. With appropriate control of the
beam position on the chamfer surface, there is no change in
microstructure from the heat remaining in the vicinity of the
Laser Spot
Chip
Tool
Fig. 3. LAM set-up with the laser beam normal to the workpiece surface [30].
Beam
L2
Y
workpiece
Tool
Fig. 4. The relative position of the laser beam, workpiece and cutting tool in laser assisted turning operation: (a) end-view and (b) side-view [32].
665
machined surface and the tool is not in direct contact with the
laser heated workpiece surface.
The laser spot size is required to fully cover the chamfer
surface to achieve uniform reduction in the cutting forces in the X,
Y and Z directions [32], however, even partial coverage of the
chamfer surface by the laser beam close to the machined surface
can dramatically reduce tool wear [13].
Shin and colleagues [10,25,26,35] used multiple distributed
laser units simultaneously heating both the unmachined surface
and the chamfer surface (as shown in Fig. 5) to create the desired
temperature distribution through the depth of cut in the
workpiece which is reported to result in longer tool life.
The position of the laser beam relative to the tool is critical.
Toolbeam distance along with cutting speed determines the time
interval between the laser heating and machining operation and
therefore the temperature distribution at the cutting zone. It is
found that the larger reduction in the cutting force is achieved
with the laser spot positioned closer to the cutting tool when
cutting hardened steel [34], commercially pure titanium [32] and
high chromium white cast iron [36]. However, if the toolbeam
distance is too short, the tool may be damaged by overheating, the
chips may y into the laser beam, become molten and drop onto
the machined surface [37]. Therefore, the tool must be kept at a
minimum distance from the laser beam.
3.2. Milling
Integration of the laser beam with a milling machine as the
tool is rotating is a complicated task. Generally, the beam can be
arranged separately to the tool or integrated with the spindle.
For surface milling, the easiest way is to set the beam in front
of the tool in the feed direction as shown in Fig. 6. The limited
spot size of the external heat source limits the ability to cover the
width of cut by a single spot in most applications. Therefore, the
beam can only heat part of the cut width. This could be the middle
(position 1) [38] or tool entry point (position 2) or both entry and
exit points (position 2 and position 3) by two beams [6,39]. A high
power laser, multiple beams or a line beam are required to cover
the width of the cutting zone (region 4) [1,3941].
Since the dynamic impact on the cutting tool, as the rotating
tool intermittently engages and disengages with the workpiece at
the entry and exit points, respectively, causes signicant vibration
and ultimately tool fracture during milling operations, laser beam
heating at the entry point is more signicant for longer tool life
and a reduction in chatter.
If the beam is moved by an additional motor, exibility can be
achieved by positioning it in alignment with the feed direction of
the cutting tool [40] or by scanning it to cover the width of the
cutting zone.
L1
Z
Z
X
workpiece
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666 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680

Instead of heating the top surface of the workpiece with a
beam separated from the spindle, two concepts were proposed to
integrate the beam with the machine tool [4244]. Fig. 7 shows
the design proposed for in-situ laser materials processing
(hardening, marking, etc.) during milling operations. The
integration of the laser beam with the machining tool can be
achieved by (1) coupling the beam in front of the spindle by an
interface radial to the tool axis; (2) the laser beam is delivered
axially through the spindle and the end beam tool can be rotated
with the spindle as shown in the gure. It is possible to perform
laser assisted milling with this integrated set-up.
surface integrity [52]. It is found that the temperature is the
predominant variable affecting the laser assisted machining
process, as a temperature which is too high may prematurely
degrade the cutting tool and may cause workpiece subsurface
damage, while a temperature which is too low will not realize the
maximum benet of LAM [25].
The material removal temperature, Tmr, which is dened as the
average temperature of the material as it enters the shear
deformation zone [38], plays a key role in the LAM process. This
needs to be controlled to achieve the full benets of laser assisted

3.3. Other machining operations machine tool

laser tool main spindle clamping device
Laser preheating has been successfully integrated with planing
of Al2O3 [45], burnishing of steels shown in Fig. 8 [46], dressing
laser beam
[4749], grinding [50] and drilling [51] in which the laser beam process gas
locally heats the workpiece in front of the planing, burnishing and
dressing tools and through the centre-hollow drill tool. (axial)

(radial)
4. Temperature distribution due to external heating
laser beam
process gas rotating union
machine tool
The operating conditions of LAM need to be controlled within
an optimum range for each given workpiece material to achieve Fig. 7. Concept of radial and axial beam delivery in a milling machine [42,43].
the best machining results in terms of longer tool life and better

Optical Fiber
First laser heating
the workpiece Second laser heating Burnished Surface
the chamfer Laser Beam Laser Optic

Tool and VZ Unburnished

tool holder Surface
Dynamometer

VZ
Workpiece Embedded Springs Workpiece
Chamfer Burnishing Roller
Fig. 5. Laser assisted turning utilizing two laser beams [35]. Fig. 8. Set-up for laser assisted burnishing [46].

Vc spindle beam

4 1
Vc
beam tool 3

Vf

Vf
workpiece
top view
side view

Fig. 6. Illustration of the integration of the beam with the cutting tool for surface milling.
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S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680 667

machining without melting the workpiece or leaving undesirable where, k is the thermal couductivity; r is the density; cp is the
microstructural alteration in the machined workpiece. Because specic heat; o is the workpiece rotation speed; Vz is the feed
000
the deformation behaviour of the workpiece material is strongly speed and q is the volumetric heat generation associated with
dependent on the temperature, it is therefore essential to know material removal process and accounts for boundary conditions
the temperature distribution from the surface through the [63]. It includes the heat generated due to the friction between the
thickness up to the cutting edge and optimize it in accordance tools ank face and workpiece and the heat generated due to
with the machining parameters. plastic deformation at primary shear zone. The heat generated at
The surface temperature of the workpiece subjected to laser tools rake face due to the friction and plastic deformation at the
radiation can be measured by high speed and high-spatial secondary shear zone which is conducted into the workpiece is
resolution pyrometers [27,5356] and infrared cameras negligible compared to the thermal energy advected away from the
[10,41,5759]. The optimum surface heating temperature by workpiece with the heated chip [61]. However, the effect of heat
the laser is determined by the tool wear resistance and is about generated due to plastic deformation and friction on workpiece
16001800 K for Mo and 1550725 K for W [53]. temperature distribution is negligible compared to the energy
A transient, three dimensional heat transfer model of the deposited by laser radiation [28].
thermal response of the rotating opaque cylindrical workpiece External heating of the workpiece leads to high temperatures
subjected to laser radiation with and without the material removal at the shear zone, which results in a reduction in the shear ow
processes has been developed by Rozzi et al. [27,6062] as shown stress of the workpiece. Therefore, heat generation due to plastic
in Fig. 9. The governing equation for transient heat transfer in a deformation in the shear zone during LAM is reduced compared
rotating cylinder in a cylindrical coordinate system is written as with conventional machining process [12].
      By setting the appropriate boundary conditions (listed in
1@ @T 1 @ @T @ @T Table 1), the temperature elds as a result of laser radiation only
kr 2 k k q000
r @r @r r @f @f @z @z (without material removal), laser heating and cutting (with
@T @T @T material removal) can be calculated.
rcp o rcp Vz rcp 1 The model analyses were validated by comparing the pre-
@f @z @t
dicted surface temperature histories with the measured tempera-
ture using a pyrometer and infrared camera over a wide range of
operating conditions as shown in Fig. 10 for both with and
without material removal processes [27,61], or by comparing the
depth of the heat affected zone for some alloys [64,65].
The validated thermal model reveals the temperature distribu-
Focusing tion on the surface and through thickness (Figs. 11 and 12). It shows
Optics a large temperature gradient in all three coordinate directions. With
the beam incident on the workpiece surface, the temperature
Vz gradient exists through the depth of cut and becomes larger with the
greater depth of cut at the cutting plane. The unmachined surface
with high temperature contacts directly with the cutting tool, which
Laser Spot
Workpiece may be detrimental for cutting chemically reactive materials with
( = c )
the cutting tool at high temperature.

Finite element analyses on temperature distribution have also
v z=Lw been carried out on the laser assisted turning of the cylindrical
z c,0 workpiece of partially-stabilized zirconia (PSZ), a semi-transpar-
ent ceramic [28], mullite [56], Si3N4 ceramic [29], Si3N4 ceramics
z with complex machined features [59], Inconel 718 alloy [10],
Plane of Interest (z=z c)
austenitic stainless steel [25] and laser assisted milling of Si3N4
[41,66] and Inconel 718 alloy [41]. Leshock et al. [5] performed
r
the thermal model analysis of temperature distribution during
rw z=0 plasma enhanced machining. The effect of parameters on surface
temperature can be identied with the model analysis.
Due to its importance for thermally enhanced machining, the
' + q'rad material removal temperature of the workpiece (Tmr), or surface
q'conv '
Area of Jet Interaction temperature (Ts in K) as a function of processing parameters has
Laser Spot (c , zc ) been obtained empirically with thermal model analysis and
Chamfer experiments. It can be expressed as:
Ll for Inconel 718 alloy with plasma heating [8]:
l ' + q'rad
q'conv '
I0:58 T00:06
Ts 80:3 2
Vc0:2 D0:41
w f
0:2
Vz
for Inconel 718 alloy with two lasers (CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers)
' + q'rad
q'conv ' [10]:
q'mr
' z r 0:086 0:031
PCO PYAG
Material Tmr 27890 2
3
D0:95
w f
0:32
Removal Plane z = z fe (t > t p )
for Ti-6Al-4V alloy with single laser (CO2 laser only) [67]:
Fig. 9. Coordinate systems for the rotating workpiece during (a) laser heating e3:4 PCO
0:66
without material removal [27] and (b) laser assisted machining with material Tmr 2
4
removal [61]. f 0:31 D0:34
w Vc
0:31
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668 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680

Table 1
Boundary conditions for the thermal model analysis [27,61].

Without material removal With material removal


Workpiece surface @T 
k  a
q00 l,abs q00 conv ET sur Gsur Tsur
@r  r q
rw
 2
for
 rw ffc zzc 2 r rl
@T 
k  q00 conv ET asur Gsur Tsur
@r r r
w q
 2
for rw ffc zzc 2 4rl


Workpiece surface unmachined @T 
k  al q00 l q00 conv ET
@r r r
w

 z 4zch f and fl r,z, f r 1 on laser spot

for
@T 
k  q00 conv ET
@r r r
w
for z 4 zch f and fl r,z, f4 1 off laser spot

Workpiece surface machined @T 
k  al,m q00 l q00 conv ET
@r r r
w,m
for z o zch f and fl r,z, f r 1 on laser spot
@T 
k  q00 conv ET
@r r r
w,m
for z o zch f and fl r,z, f4 1 off laser spot
 
Centerline of workpiece @T  @T 
 0  0
@r r 0 @r r 0

Interface between machined and unmachined material @T 
k  q00 conv ET
@z  z zch f
for rw,m r r r rw and 0o f r 2pfflank
@T 
k  q00 flank
@z z z f
ch
for rw,m r r r rw and 2pfflank o f r 2p

 
End faces of workpiece @T  @T 
k  q00 conv ETasur Gsur Tsur k  z zfe,0 t rtp q00 conv ET
@z z 0 @z 
 
z zfe t 4 tp
@T  @T 
k  0  0
@z  z Lw @z  z Lcv


Material removal plane k @T 
  rcp r oTTref
r @ff 0
Circumferential direction Tr, f,z,t Tr, f 2p,z,t Tr, f,z Tr, f 2p,z
   
@T  @T  @T  @T 
   
@f @f
f f 2p
@f f
@f f 2p
Initiation T(r,f,z,0) TN Tsur T(r,f,z,0) TN Tsur

for hardened steel with single laser (CO2 laser only) [26]:
0:85
PCO
Tmr 1:8 0:47 20:47
Vc f
for hardened steel with two lasers (CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers)
where PCO2 1100 W [26]:
0:29
PYAG
Tmr 152:7
Vc f 0:47
0:45
where, I is the plasma current (Amp), T0 is the initial workpiece
bulk temperature (K), PCO2 and PYAG are the laser power (W) for
the CO2 laser (incident normal to the workpiece surface axially
and 451 [10] or 551 to tool radially) and Nd: YAG laser (incident
451 to the workpiece surface axially and 10161 to tool radially),
respectively as shown in Fig. 5, Dw is the diameter of the
workpiece (mm), f is the feed (mm) and Vc is the cutting speed
(m/min).
The contribution by the power of Nd:YAG laser to the material
removal temperature is smaller than that by the power of CO2
laser because the Nd:YAG laser beam (as the second laser in Fig. 5)
mainly heats the machined chamfer surface where no absorptiv-
ity enhanced coating is applied, while CO2 laser (as the rst laser
5 in Fig. 5) heats mainly the workpiece surface which is pre-coated
with an absorptivity enhanced coating.
The empirical expressions of material removal temperature
show that the temperature increases with laser power in LAM or
plasma current in PEM and reduces with increasing cutting speed
6 (except in the case of Inconel 718 where the material removal
temperature is independent of cutting speed), diameter of
workpiece and feed rate. The reduction in material removal
temperature with increasing cutting speed is due to the reduction
of beamworkpiece interaction time, therefore, the benet of
LAM, such as force reduction and longer tool life, reduces with
increasing cutting speed [12,32,34].
Since laser heating increases the temperature of the workpiece
before cutting, phase transformations may occur in the heated
area. This area is detrimental if it remains after cutting for some
alloys for which the fatigue life is sensitive to the hardness and
microstructure in the subsurface such as the Ti-6Al-4V alloy [6].
Simulation can predict the thickness of the phase transformation
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S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680 669

Heating Start Heating End

VZ
Point Point
Machining End Machining Start
VZ
15 mm Point Point
CO 2 Laser
Nozzle
10 mm
12.8 mm
Ll =1 mm
7.8 mm 9.4 mm
Hj =10 mm Cutting
2.8 mm 6.4 mm Tool
3.4 mm

M1 M2 M3
v
M4 Laser Pyrometer spot
Diameter = 0.3 mm N4
M5
N3 N2 N1

5.53 mm 1.4 mm

1600 1800
Position Experimental Numerical Position Experimental Numerical
M1 1600 N1
1400
M2 N2
M3 1400 N3
1200
Surface Temperature (C)

1200
Temperature (C)

1000
1000
800
800
600
600 v = 1000 rpm
VZ = 10 mm/min
400 Pl = 250 W
V =1000rpm 400 Dl = 2.5 mm
VZ =100mm/min d = 1 mm
200 Pl =500W 200 Ll = 1 mm
Dl =3mm tp = 10 s
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 20 40 60 80
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 10. Comparison of the model predicted temperature and the measured temperature on the surface of Si3N4 cylinder in (d) laser assisted machining with material
removal [61] and (c) laser heating without material removal [27] at the selected locations shown in (b) and (a), respectively.

layer and determine the appropriate laser power to ensure that due to their high temperature strength, low density, thermal and
the layer associated with the phase transformation can be later chemical stability, and good wear resistance. Ceramics are
removed by machining [64,65,68]. difcult to machine using conventional machining techniques
because of their hardness and brittleness [69]. Machining of these
ceramics is a high cost process because of a short tool life and this
5. Thermally enhanced machining of hard-to-machine often results in surface cracking and subsurface damage.
materials

It has been demonstrated that thermally enhanced machining
improves the machinability of a variety of hard-to-machine
materials in terms of a reduction in cutting forces and specic
cutting energy, better surface nish and longer tool life. The
workpiece materials include ceramics, metals and metal matrix
composites.
5.1. Ceramics
Advanced engineering ceramics are increasingly being used in
automotive, aerospace, military, medical and other applications
5.1.1. Material removal mechanisms and chip formation
Generally, ceramics are brittle and plastic deformation does
not occur during material removal. However, both the strength
and brittleness of ceramics, such as silicon nitride, reduce at high
temperature (as shown in Fig. 1) due to the softening of a glassy
phase at the grain boundaries. When the cutting tool is engaged
with the laser heated workpiece, the material is removed mainly
due to the combination of brittle fracture and plastic deformation
[45,63,7072]. The material removed during LAM of silicon nitride
is due to: (1) plastic deformation in the shear zone which is
characterized by viscous ow of a glassy grain-boundary phase
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670 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
Fig. 11. The predicted temperature (1C) distributions on (a) the surface and
through thickness at (b) the cutting plane (f 01) and (c) laser centre (f 551)
during LAM of PSZ [28].
material and reorientation of the b-Si3N4 grains and (2) segmenta-
tion of chips due to the initiation, coalescence and propagation
of intergranular microcracks [71,72]. Flow and redistribution of
the intergranular glassy phase is also found to hold the Al2O3
grains and maintain plastic deformation when the temperature is
above 850 1C (glassy transition temperature) during LAM of Al2O3
ceramic [45].
There are 3 types of chip formed during LAM of silicon nitride
and mullite as shown in Fig. 13. It is found that the average near-
chamfer surface temperature (Ts,ch) [73] or average material
removal temperature (Tmr,se) and ratio of feed force to main
cutting force (Ff/Fc) [70] plays a key role in chip formation for
silicon nitride and mullite as listed in Table 2. Plastic deformation
during chip formation occurs when the temperature is higher
than 1151 1C for silicon nitride and 1000 1C for mullite and force
ration Ff/Fc is lower than 1.
Despite the fact that there is no continuous and semi-
continuous chip formed with LAM of PSZ, plastic deformation
Fig. 12. Temperature distribution through the thickness at (a) minimum and
(b) maximum depths of cut due to the complex features of the machined
component during LAM of Si3N4 ceramic [59].
occurs during chip formation in addition to brittle fracture [63].
The plastic deformation is found to be the result of high
temperature dislocation motion and dynamic recrystallization
that leads to a smaller grain size and preferred grain orientation
in the machined surface produced by LAM [63,74].
A multiscale nite element modelling of LAM of Si3N4 ceramic
developed by Tian and Shin [75] showed that microcracks initiate
and propagate under the loading of tool at material removal
temperature of 1200 1C. The microcracks propagate and coalesce
into a macrocrack in the shear zone, which produces a
discontinuous chip with a sharp drop of main cutting force. The
discontinuous chip is formed mainly due to failure of the
intergranular glassy phase, no grain reorientation in the chip
and small amount of deformation are found in the chips.
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5.1.2. Cutting forces and specic cutting energy
The cutting zone stress is found to decrease with increasing
material removal temperature and feed when LAM of Si3N4 but is
not signicantly dependent on the cutting speed during LAM [71].
All three components of the cutting forces are independent of
cutting time (or tool wear), which is believed to be due to the
formation of thin glassy workpiece material on the wear land of
the tool ank face which acts as a lubricant on the wear land [71].
The cutting forces and specic cutting energy are reported to
decrease with increasing laser power or surface temperature
when cutting ceramics such as mullite [70], magnesia-partially
stabilized zirconia (PSZ) [63] and silicon nitride [38,72,73,76]
because of increasing material removal temperature with laser
power, but are not signicantly affected by the laser-tool lead
distance Ll [73].
Not only the cutting forces but also the ratio of the feed force
(Ff) to the main cutting force (Fc) decreases with increasing laser
power during LAM of PSZ [63] and mullite [70]. The Ff/Fc ratio of
less than 1 achieved at high laser power proves that quasi-plastic
deformation in the chip occurred during machining due to the
softening of the workpiece.

5.1.3. Tool materials and wear

Fig. 13. Morphology of chips formed during LAM of silicon nitride, (a) fragmented,
(b) semi-continuous and (c) continuous [73].
A polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool is found not to be
suitable for LAM because of its low carburizing temperature
(900 1C)[63]. Polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) has been
used for LAM of silicon nitride [72,73] and PSZ [63]. A carbide
insert has been used for LAM of mullite [70] and Al2O3 [77]
ceramics. A PCBN tool shows signicantly longer tool life than a
tungsten carbide tool when LAM PSZ at the same cutting
conditions [63]. But Klocke and Bergs [76] showed that ank
wear is smaller using a PCD tool than that using a CBN tool when
laser assisted machining silicon nitride.
Abrasion, adhesion and diffusion mechanisms are attributed
to the tool wear during laser assisted turning of PSZ [63]. Abrasion
of the deposited workpiece material on both primary and
secondary ank faces results in the grooves on the ank face
(as shown in Figure 14b). Edge crater was not observed during
LAM of Si3N4 with PCBN insert at high temperature [72], but was
observed during LAM of PSZ at material removal temperature of
1000 1C (Figure 14d). This difference is inconclusively attributed
to the lower ductility and smaller thermal diffusivity of PSZ,
which lead to severer diffusive and abrasive wear during LAM of
PSZ compared with LAM of Si3N4 [63]. The tool life during LAM
of mullite is much longer than that during conventional
machining [70]. Flank wear is found to be the dominant tool
failure mode during laser assisted turning of Si3N4, which is
attributed to the adhesion of the glassy grain-boundary phase to
the cutting tool. The bonding between the glassy phase and
cutting tool may be broken during machining and this results in
the tearing of the cutting tool material [72].
Repeatedly, tool wear is strongly dependent on the material
removal temperature, and there is an optimum material removal
temperature for the longest tool life. A short tool life is due to an
insufcient reduction in workpiece strength when the material
removal temperature is lower than the optimum temperature and

Table 2
Chip morphology, formation mechanisms and formation conditions for LAM of silicon nitride [73] and mullite [70].

Workpiece material Morphology Formation mechanisms Conditions

Silicon nitride Fragmented Brittle fracture Ts,ch o 1151 1C

Semi-continuous Local brittle fracture and plastic deformation o1151 1C o Ts,ch o1305 1C
Continuous Plastic deformation Ts,ch 41329 1C

Mullite Brittle fracture, semi-continuous Brittle fracture and plastic deformation Ff =Fc 4 1 800 1C o Tmr,se o 1000 1C
Semi-continuous Plastic deformation Ff =Fc o 1 1000 1C o Tmr,se o 1300 1C
Continuous Plastic deformation Ff =Fc o 1 Tmr,se 4 1300 1C
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672 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
Fig. 14. (a) Schematic of tool wear, wear on the (b) primary ank face, (c) nose and (d) rake face during LAM of PSZ [63].
a reduction in tool strength by overheating when the material
removal temperature is higher than the optimum temperature,
respectively [70]. Therefore, tool life can be optimized by maintain-
ing the material removal temperature in the optimum region.
The tool failure mode for laser assisted milling of Si3N4 is edge
chipping at workpiece temperatures lower than the softening
point of the glass phase due to the high and frequent dynamic
impact on the cutting edge when the tool is intermittently
engaged with the workpiece during cutting. Gradual ank wear is
the dominant tool failure mode at high workpiece temperature
and the ank wear is signicantly reduced with increasing
workpiece temperature up to a point, further increases in
temperature has less or a negative inuence on the reduction in
tool wear [38,41]. The maximum workpiece temperature allowed
for reducing tool wear in laser assisted milling is higher than that
in laser assisted turning because of the lower temperature of the
insert as a result of the shorter toolchip contact time during the
milling operation [38].
Similar to the milling process, the pressure on the cutting tool
when the tool is engaged with the workpiece during planing
operation is high and often results in severe abrasion and larger
area fracture on both the ank and rake faces. Laser heating prior
to cutting effectively softens the workpiece (Al2O3) and no
fracture was observed on both the ank and rake faces of the
cutting tool [45].
5.1.4. Surface integrity
The integrity of the machined surface is determined by
measuring the surface roughness and surface or subsurface damage.
Above a certain temperature, the machined surface of silicon
nitride produced by the laser assisted machining is characterized
by the built-up of irregular glassy phase debris and the formation
of cavities due to b-Si3N4 grain pullout [72,73]. Similar to LAM
of PSZ [63], the surface roughness is not sensitive to the material
removal temperature, but depends on the size and distribution of
silicon nitride grains.
Local cracks present in the heat affected zone without cutting
indicate that the laser heating cycle introduces high thermal
stresses in PSZ [63]. The thickness of the cracking region increases
with material removal temperature (laser power). If this thickness
is greater than the depth of cut, the crack remains in the
subsurface, which is detrimental for the properties of the
machined part. Therefore, the material removal temperature
must be controlled to produce a damage-free component by LAM.
The sudden impact and stress release between cutting tool and
workpiece when the cutting tool enters and leaves the workpiece
during milling of ceramics (Si3N4) result in workpiece edge
chipping at both the entry and exit edges. The workpiece edge
chipping leads to poor dimensional and geometric accuracy and is
the source of cracking. Rise in workpiece temperature at the
cutting zone during laser assisted milling of Si3N4 can eliminate
both the macroscale entry and interior edge chippings, but the
macroscale exit edge chipping can not be avoided completely,
however, it can be reduced signicantly due to the increasing
workpiece temperature during laser assisted milling. Reduction in
workpiece edge chipping is the result of the coupled effects of
softening and toughening mechanisms. Both softening and
toughening of the workpiece take positive effect when tempera-
ture is above the brittle/ductile transition temperature and below
the global softening temperature (between 1300 and 1400 1C)
[78].
Compressive residual stress is observed on the laser assisted
machined surface of Si3N4 in both the axial and hoop directions
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S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
[57]. However its magnitude is smaller than that produced by
conventional grinding [57,76] because the softening of the glassy
phase signicantly relieves the stress at the material removal
zone [57].
Klocke and Bergs [76] reported that the bending strength and
the Weibull modulus of Si3N4 components made by LAM are
better than those produced by conventional grinding.
5.2. Metals
5.2.1. Titanium alloys
Titanium and its alloys have seen increasing demand in the
aerospace industry in recent years due to their superior properties,
such as excellent strength-to-weight ratio, strong corrosion
resistance and ability to retain high strength at high temperature
[79,80]. This demand has resulted in the requirement to increase
machining speed and consequently the material removal rate.
The poor machinability of titanium alloys is mainly due
to their low thermal conductivity, high chemical reactivity to
tool materials and low modulus of elasticity, all of which result
in high cutting temperatures, short tool life and high vibration
during machining. These limit the cutting speed and productivity.
Flank wear and crater wear are the main tool failure modes
as the results of dissolutiondiffusion, adhesion and attrition
mechanisms [8183]. The cobalt diffusion leads to the pulling out
and removing of WC particles which is much more deleterious to
the hardness and wear resistance than the diffusion of tungsten
and carbon and dominates the crater wear mechanism [84,85].
Instead of enhanced cooling strategies which have been
focused on improving the machinability of titanium alloys for
years, laser assisted machining offers an alternative strategy to
improve the machinability by reducing the cutting pressure.
Cutting forces in all three directions have been reduced
dramatically with the assistance of a laser beam and the reduction
of cutting forces strongly depends on the cutting speed (related
laser energy input due to beamworkpiece interaction time),
depth of cut, toolbeam distance, laser spot size, laser power and
the beam incident angle [13,32,65]. The signicant effect of laser
power on the force reduction during laser assisted turning of
commercially pure titanium (a ductile workpiece) is only found at
the beam incident direction [32].
When the laser beam is incident on the chamfer surface with
its minor axis along the workpiece rotation direction, the heat
penetration into the shear zone is minimized due to the short
beam interaction time. Therefore, heating of the cutting tool is
minimized and tool life is improved, because the strength of
carbide tools used for machining titanium alloys is low at high
temperature [13].
Critical cutting speed for the onset of chip segmentation is very
low during conventional machining. This causes dynamic cyclical
forces on the tool which leads to chatter and cutting tool tip
breakage [86,87]. With laser beam preheating, the critical cutting
speed for the onset of chip segmentation increases [88]. At
constant laser power, the chip morphology transitions from a
sharp saw-tooth morphology to a continuous chip and back to a
saw-tooth shape with increasing cutting speed. The saw-tooth
chips formed at low and high cutting speeds have different
geometry ratios, which indicates the different formation mechan-
isms. The continuous chip transition speed increases with laser
power [89,90].
Tool life during LAM of titanium alloys strongly depends on the
material removal temperature. The optimum material removal
temperature during LAM of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is found to be 250 1C
at which the balance between the heat generated due to plastic
deformation and the heat produced by laser energy input is achieved
673
and the cobalt-diffusion controlled crater wear is minimized at the
cutting speed of 107 m/min [67,91]. However, higher temperatures
result in shorter tool life compared to conventional machining due
to the acceleration of Co diffusion. At this optimum material removal
temperature, the tool life in terms of the volume of material
removed during LAM is shorter than that in conventional machining
at cutting speed higher than 107 m/min. The hybrid machining, in
which a reservoir cap with liquid nitrogen (LN2) passage is built to
cool the tools rake face, improves the tool life signicantly at all the
cutting speeds. Furthermore, the improvement of the tool life by
applying a TiAlN coating in the hybrid machining is more signicant
than that in the conventional machining. In addition to the local
softening of workpiece by laser heating, the reduction in the specic
cutting energy during hybrid machining is attributed to (1) the
enhanced cooling of the cutting tool to maintain its hardness and
strength; (2) the lower tool wear rate due to the lower tool-chip
interface temperatures. The lower friction between the tool ank
face and the machined surface improves the machined surface
roughness [67].
Tool life is reported to be shortened when milling Ti-6Al-4V
alloy with plasma as the heat source because the cutting tool is
exposed to higher temperatures and this results in rapid
degradation of the tool [6].
However, Ginta et al. [20] reported that tool life increases with
increasing workpiece temperature up to 650 1C by induction
heating when end milling with a PCD insert. Longer tool life at
high temperatures is attributed to a reduction in cutting forces
and the amplitude of vibration. The size of the built-up edge
increases with preheating temperature up to 450 1C due to the
high chemical reactivity between the titanium alloy and the
cutting tool at elevated temperatures and decreases with further
increase in preheating temperature.
The optimum preheating temperature is found to be that at which
the radial and axial cutting forces sharply increase [21]. Longer
chiptool contact length and minimum tool wear rate are achieved
when the workpiece is preheated at the optimum temperature.
LAM also produces the smoother machined surfaces with less
grain pullout and smaller depth of the deformation zone [32].
However, LAM reduces the compressive residual stresses at the
surface or transforms these stresses into tension with increasing
laser power [65,92]. This effect is more signicant at low cutting
speed and becomes negligible when the cutting speed is higher
than 54 m/min. Lower compressive or higher tensile residual
stress lowers the fatigue resistance.
However, the heat source has to be carefully controlled to
ensure that the thickness of the heat affected layer associated
with Widmanstatten (needle-shaped) microstructure formation is
within the cutting zone. This is difcult to achieve using plasma as
the heat source due to the difculty in predicting the depth of the
heat affected zone during plasma heating [6]. The Widmanstatten
microstructure that remains in the subsurface contributes to a
reduction in its fatigue life [6,65]. One advantage of a laser beam
over plasma as the external heat source is its smaller and
accurately controlled spot size [6], there is no Widmanstatten
microstructure observed in the machined subsurface after laser
assisted machining [32,65,67].
5.2.2. Nickel-based superalloys
Inconel 718, a nickel-based superalloy, has the ability to retain
its strength and toughness up to temperatures of around 500 1C.
Therefore it is an ideal material for the aerospace industry nding
applications in gas turbine components and jet engines [80]. Its
high strength is due to the presence of ne uniform metastable g0
and g00 precipitates, which are the intermetallic phases Ni3(Al, Ti)
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674 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
and Ni3(Al, Ti, Nb), distributed throughout the matrix after age
hardening.
In general, nickel-based superalloys are hard to machine
because of their rapid work hardening during machining, chip
segmentation resulting in severe tool wear and their high
tendency to form a built-up edge by welding to the tool material
at high cutting temperatures [93]. Adhesive and abrasive wear are
dominant wear mechanisms, which lead to the ank wear and
notching wear as the main tool failure modes in conventional
machining of Inconel 718 [4,5,94].
Ceramic tool inserts, WG-300 by Greenleaf [4,5,10,41], CC670
by Sandvik [6,95], K090 by Kennametal [13] (aluminum oxide
reinforced with silicon carbide whiskers or TiC) are the best tool
materials for cutting Inconel 718 because they are stable up to
approximately 2000 1C [6].
With increasing temperature, the deformation in Inconel 718
transitions from being heterogenous, with slip being conned to
planar bands with dislocation pairs and non-dislocation structure
in the matrix at room temperature to being homogenously
distributed and comprised of a uniform tangle of dislocations at
high temperature once the limit of stability of metastable g0 and
g00 precipitates is reached. This makes the deformation during
thermally enhanced machining much easier [96]. Reduction in
cutting forces or specic cutting energy and longer tool life with
ceramic tooling has been reported with both laser [13,34,41,95]
and plasma [46,8] as external heat sources for both turning and
milling operations. The cutting forces or specic cutting energy
decreases with increasing laser power [13,34,41,95] or tempera-
ture [5,10]. But the tool life using LAM is shorter than that
obtained by conventional cutting with carbide tools [95].
Unlike the independence of cutting forces on cutting time
when LAM of Si3N4 [71], the cutting forces in all directions
gradually increase with cutting time in both plasma and laser
assisted machining (for both turning and milling operations), but
the rate of increase is much lower than that seen in conventional
machining [4,41]. This can be attributed to (i) the lower strength,
toughness and work hardening of the workpiece at the cutting
zone and (ii) reduction in tool wear during LAM. However, the
laser heat source has a limited effect on the strain and strain rate
eld during LAM [96].
Notch and the maximum ank wear are reduced with
increasing material removal temperature up to 540 1C during
laser assisted turning compared to conventional turning.
Contrary to the increase in wear with cutting speed during LAM
of Ti-6Al-4V alloy and conventional machining, the tool wear
(both the notch and ank wear) decreases with increasing cutting
speed and feed during LAM of Inconel 718 at the constant
material removal temperature of 540 1C [10]. This is probably due
to the independence of material removal temperature on cutting
speed as shown in the empirical equation (3). Therefore, the
benet of LAM can be maximized at higher cutting speed.
However, notch wear is still the main tool failure mode in laser
assisted turning.
A reduction in notch and ank wear has also been reported
with plasma enhanced milling at low plasma intensity [6]. In the
plasma enhanced turning operation with high arc current, the
reduction in notch wear is more signicant. Deep notching is
virtually eliminated, but the ank wear rate increases due to the
higher chip temperature compared to conventional machining
[4,5,8,97].
Hybrid machining, developed by simultaneously preheating
the workpiece using a plasma ame and cooling the tool using a
liquid nitrogen chamber that is attached to the tool, results in
increasing tool life and lowering surface roughness by 156% and
250%, respectively over conventional machining and by 170% and
33% over plasma enhanced machining [97].
The location of the laser beam on the chamfer surface during
laser assisted turning has a more signicant inuence on the
reduction in the notch and nose wear than on the reduction in
ank wear. A greater reduction in notch wear is observed when
the laser beam is incident on the top edge of the chamfer shoulder
while a greater reduction in nose wear is obtained when the laser
beam is incident near the root of the chamfer shoulder [13].
Thermal fatigue of the cutting tool during the heating/cooling
cycle of its interrupted engagement with the workpiece during
milling is the main tool failure mechanism [6], which causes edge
chipping. However, the softening of the workpiece by the external
heat source reduces the impact of the workpiece on the cutting
tool, therefore, a reduction in chipping is more signicant with
increasing material removal temperature than a reduction in ank
wear during the milling operation. The amount of chipping is
dependent on the preheating cycle and beam position. Longer
heating time and beam position closer to the edge of workpiece
(tool entrance or exit sides) favored the reduction in the tool edge
chipping during laser assisted milling of Inconel 718 [41].
The shear angle in chip formation is reduced and chip
thickness increases during LAM [11]. The tendency for chip
segmentation increases during LAM of Inconel 718 compared
with conventional machining because of the reduced strength of
the workpiece [96].
Compressive residual stress is measured in the axial direction,
which indicates that LAM does not produce any adverse effect on
the resultant subsurface because a tensile residual stress is
usually produced by turning [10]. However, Germain et al. [95]
reported that tensile residual stress is produced in both the axial
and tangential directions with and without laser assistance, and
the magnitude of residual stress produced by LAM is smaller than
that by conventional machining only in the axial direction when
machining with carbide tools.
Surface roughness is signicantly reduced by milling and
turning operations with the assistance of a laser beam and plasma
[4,8,95]. This improvement increases with surface temperature up
to around 500 1C [5,10,41]. Beyond 530 1C, surface oxidation is
sometimes observed, and this results in a slight deterioration in
surface quality. The improvement in surface integrity by plasma
enhanced machining is because of (i) a lower chip rupture stress
due to the lower workpiece hardness leading to the smoother chip
removal; (ii) higher tool ductility due to the higher temperatures
preventing the secondary chipping [4].
The subsurface after milling shows high strain hardening.
The depth and hardness of the deformation affected zone are
80100 mm and 340399 Hv0.2 at a depth of 24 mm with assistance
of plasma, these are smaller than those (180 mm and 435 Hv0.2 at
depth of 22 mm) with conventional milling at the same cutting
conditions. No carbide precipitation or new metallurgical phases
are produced in the machined subsurface due to the external
heating [6].
5.2.3. Hardened steels and other metals
Thermally enhanced machining has been successfully applied
with other metals such as Co-based alloys [6,98,99], steels
[7,12,1419,25,26,33,34,65,100102], 6061-T6 aluminum [100]
and iron [36,58] in terms of lower cutting forces, increased tool
life and the material removal rate.
The evolution of thrust force with cutting time in LAM of D2
tool steel with rectangular laser beam is strongly dependent on
the beam orientation. The thrust force is gradually reduced with
cutting time when the laser spot slow axis is perpendicular to the
feed direction because of the higher surface temperature due to (i)
the longer duration of the heating cycle and (ii) the laser power
distribution along its axis in this conguration [12].
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Not only is the magnitude of the cutting forces reduced, but
also is the amplitude variation of the forces in LAM of D2 tool steel
reduced [12]. This is attributed to the great reduction in vibration.
In LAM of some hardenable steels, such as 1090 steel, higher
cutting forces are obtained because the phase transformation
hardening occurs when the laser preheated part of the workpiece
enters the cutting zone [103]. However, an improvement in
surface integrity is obtained.
During LAM of a ductile 42CrMo4 steel, the effect of laser
power on the reduction of cutting forces is not signicant
compared with that during LAM of hardened steel, but the
improvement in surface quality is signicant with increasing laser
power [102].
The friction coefcient between the coated K10 tool and
hardened XC42 steel is lower in LAM than that during conven-
tional machining under the same cutting conditions [34]. This
leads to a greater reduction in the thrust force during LAM [12].
But the friction coefcient remains constant at the material
removal temperature from 25 to 450 1C during LAM of austenitic
stainless steel, which suggests that the shear angle may change
during LAM [25].
Both the evolution of ank wear and catastrophic failure of the
tool during LAM of the tool steel have been reduced because of the
softening of the workpiece, which can be achieved with surface
temperatures above 300400 1C for a thickness of the uncut
chip of 0.05 mm. The stable built-up edge is found to protect the
cutting edge during LAM, and this partially contributes to the
reduction in tool wear. The chip morphology changes from a saw-
tooth chip produced with conventional cutting to a continuous
chip with LAM at the same cutting speed [12]. The change in
the chip morphology due to laser preheating is the result that
the materials failure mode changes from being predominantly
a fracture at low temperature to plastic deformation at high
temperature. The chip reduction coefcient reduces with increas-
ing preheating temperature which leads to improvements in the
machinability [15].
Unlike with laser assisted machining of titanium alloys, the
lower tool wear and more signicant suppression of the formation
of saw-tooth chips during LAM of tool steel are observed when
the slow axis of the diode laser with a rectangular beam is
perpendicular to the feed direction due to the higher surface
temperature [12].
Tool life when machining steel is most signicantly affected by
preheating temperature [7,1416], and this enhancing effect may
be diminished with increasing cutting speed [17]. The maximum
preheating temperature allowed is limited by the recrystallization
temperature of the workpiece in order to avoid any microstruc-
ture alteration in the machined subsurface [15].
The toolchip interface temperature (Tint), critical for dissolu-
stress due to the plastic deformation of the surface layer. With
laser heating the workpiece surface in front of the burnishing
roller (as shown in Fig. 8), larger plastic deformation in the
surface layer is achieved. This leads to a lower surface rough-
ness, higher hardness in the surface layer and a greater
compressive residual stress on the surface compared to
conventional burnishing. Surface temperature by laser heating
should be controlled in order to prevent permanent phase
transformation in the surface layer [46].
Compressive residual stress in the axial direction is produced,
and its magnitude and depth are smaller in the laser assisted
machined bearing steel (100Cr6) than those made by conven-
tional machining [65,92,102], this may be due to less deformation
strain during LAM. However, Ding and Shin [26] reported that
LAM produces 150 MPa more compressive surface axial residual
stress compared to conventional cutting.
5.3. Metal matrix composites (MMCs)
Composites are a combination of two or more materials made
by mixing or bonding in such a way that each maintains its
integrity. One part generally acts as a matrix and the other as the
reinforcement which may be in the form of particles, whiskers
or bres. The properties of composites are achieved by the
systematic combination of these constituents.
In particulate MMCs, the reinforcement is normally a ceramic
(Al2O3, SiC, etc.) which offers the matrix metal (normally ductile
metal, such as aluminum alloys) extra hardness and wear
resistance [104].
However, the incorporated ceramic particles make the MMCs
hard to machine [105] because of rapid tool wear, which is
primarily attributed to the abrasive nature of the hard ceramic
particles [106,107]. Tool wear is accelerated solely due to the
abrasive action of the ceramic particulates, and the built-up edge
to some extent protects the cutting tool from sliding against the
abrasive particulates [108].
The cutting force consists of contributions from chip forma-
tion, ploughing, particle fracture and displacement [109]. The
surface roughness is controlled by particle fracture and pullout at
low feed [105].
The metal matrix, which constitutes between 70% and 90% of
most MMCs, also plays a signicant role in machining. Softening
of the Al matrix by the laser beam prior to cutting leads to more
signicant force reduction in the X and Y directions (by nearly
Laser Power, Pl (W)
100 150 200 250 300
100 140 7
Specific Cutting Energy, uc (J/mm3)

uc Tool life
tion-diffusion dominant tool wear, is much lower in LAM than 120
that in conventional machining of austenitic stainless steel when 80 6
the material removal temperature is above 120 1C and below 100
Tool Life, t l (min)

400 1C [25], which leads to a signicant reduction in tool wear

60 5
% Scrap

within that temperature range, above which the accelerated tool 80

wear results in premature tool failure. % Scrap
Segmentation during saw-tooth formation in machining is one 60 4
40
of the primary causes of chatter when the vibration frequency due
to chip segmentation coincides with the natural frequency of the 40
machine system [19]. It is found that preheating the workpiece 20 3
results in a dramatic reduction in the amplitude of acceleration 20
of vibration and chatter due to the reduction in instability of
chip formation and an increase in plasticity of the workpiece 0 0 2
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
[12,19,101].
Material Removal Temperature, Tmr ( oC)
Burnishing is a process involving pressing of the metallic
workpiece surface by a hard roller or ball. This process produces Fig. 15. Effect of material removal temperature on specic cutting energy, tool life
a smooth surface with high hardness and compressive residual and scrap rate for LAM of PSZ [63].
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
676 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
50%) compared to force reduction in the Z direction (only 10%)
during LAM of Al2O3p/Al composites. The softened matrix is easily
squeezed out while more Al2O3 particles are pushed in from the
machined surface by the cutting tool, which produces a higher
fraction of Al2O3 particles near the machined surface, and this
leads to an increase in the wear resistance of the machined
surface. Further, the machined surface shows a higher compres-
sive residual stress (triple that observed in conventionally
machined surfaces). Longer tool life is also reported during LAM
of Al2O3p/Al composites [110].
However, Barnes et al. [111] found that the mode of tool
failure is ank wear by abrasion when cutting aluminum/SiC
MMCs. The ank wear increases signicantly with increasing
preheating temperature. This is associated with a shift in the
stability range of the built-up edge to the lower cutting speeds,
combined with a change in the angle of the built-up edges
leading edge which reduces its ability to protect the ank face
from abrasive wear.
6. Optimization and energy efciency
The optimum range of the material removal temperature is
determined by comparing the specic cutting energy (uc), tool life,
scrap rate (determined by the damage on the machined surface in
the form of cracks and spalling) and surface roughness as shown
in Fig. 15. The optimum material removal temperature is found to
be in the range from approximately 900 to 1100 1C for PSZ [63].
The optimum LAM operation (longer tool life, better surface
integrity and damage-free component) can be ensured when Tmr
is maintained in a proper range, which is between 1270 and
Pulsed
Laser
Objective
lens
Pre-drilled
hole
Chips
Cutting
tool
Pre-drilled holes
Fig. 16. Illustration of turning operation with predrilled holes by laser beam (a) during and (b) before machining [113].
1490 1C for silicon nitride [72], 9001100 1C for partially stabi-
lized zirconia (PSZ) [63], 1043 and 1215 1C for mullite [56,70], 550
and 650 1C for Inconnel 718 alloy [10], 120 and 340 1C for
austenitic stainless steel P550 [25], around 250 and 400 1C for the
Ti-6Al-4V alloy [67,91] and compacted graphite iron [58],
respectively. The cutting conditions can be optimized using
model analysis to ensure that the material removal temperature
is within the appropriate range.
During the LAM process, the energy absorbed by the workpiece
not only raises the temperature of the material to be removed to
the desired material removal temperature but also heats the
material near the removal zone. A preheating efciency is dened
as the ratio of the minimum power required to heat the material
to be removed to the desired material removal temperature (Pmin)
to the total amount of power absorbed from the external heat
source (P) [112], i.e.:
Pmin
Z 7
P
This efciency decreases with increasing material removal
temperature because a large amount of energy is wasted in
heating the material outside the cutting zone. Improvement of
preheating efciency signicantly reduces the specic energy,
utotal (including mechanical cutting energy, uc and thermal energy,
ut). Therefore, the selection of the optimum material removal
temperature is critical in order to achieve not only the full benet
of LAM but also the preheating efciency. As a metric, the
preheating efciency can be used to guide the conguration of the
laser beam, such as its focusing location and position relative
to the cutting tool in consideration of the workpiece materials
thermo-physical properties.
Objective
lens
O2
Laser beam
Pre-drilled
hole
Chips Tool and
Workpiece tool holder
Workpiece
Cutting tool
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S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
7. Non-traditional laser assisted machining
Traditional LAM benets from the local temperature rise in the
workpiece in front of the cutting tool and the resultant local
softening of the workpiece in the cutting zone. However, other
studies on LAM take advantage of material removal and micro-
structure alteration by the laser.
7.1. Removal of material by the laser in front of the cutting tool
[113,114]:
The laser is used as a heat source not only to soften the layer of
material which is about to be removed from the workpiece, but
also to remove part of material by laser drilling of Ti-6Al-4V alloy
[113] or ablation of ceramics (laser ablation hybrid machining,
LAHM) [114]. The circumferentially spaced holes in a layer of
material to be removed are made in front of the cutting tool by
material vaporization with or without oxygen ow (as shown in
Fig. 16a). The predrilled holes should have a depth not greater
than the depth of cut, and a diameter greater than the feed rate
and an expected chip width. The depth-to-diameter aspect ratio
of the pulsed laser drilled holes is between 1 and 2.
This can be done either in-situ during cutting, or before
cutting. The latter consists of two steps: the workpiece initially is
predrilled with circumferentially spaced, axially extending rows
of holes in the layer of material to be machined by the laser, and
then machined on a lathe (as shown in Fig. 16b).
The predrilled holes ahead of the cutting process reduce the
cutting force with the breakage of chips to a manageable size, and
reduce tool wear (no crater wear is observed). When machining
Ti-6Al-4V alloy, as much as a 50% reduction in cutting force
is obtained. The reduction in the cutting energy is much
greater than the reduction in volume of material due to laser
predrilling [113].
The cutting forces is signicantly reduced with LAHM, the
reduction is more than 20% of the amount of force required to cut
a semi-transparent volume absorption material and 65% more
than LAM. The smooth forces indicate the absence of any brittle
fracture and a continuous type chip is formed at this high
temperature range [114].
7.2. Modication of microstructure in the to-be machined layer by
the laser [115]
Laser pre-treatment of the to-be machined layer in alumi-
num/SiC composites results in a precipitate-free and recrystal-
lization layer due to the fast air cooling or liquid nitrogen
quenching. This causes an increase in hardness at the surface
followed by a zone of reduced hardness before a return to the
hardness as the as-received workpiece deep in the centre of
workpiece. Under the selected preheat treatment conditions,
ank wear is dramatically reduced by nearly 50% in association
with a reduction in feed force. However, this reduction is not
achieved by a simple reduction in the hardness of the matrix
materials.
The improvement in tool wear by microstructure modication
may be due to the change in the mechanism by which the chip
separates from the cutting tool, however, the authors did not
present analysis on chip formation in this work.
8. Economic benets
To be adopted by industry, a technology has to be economic-
ally competitive and environmentally friendly. Despite the capital
and operating costs (power consumption) of a laser or plasma,
677
savings can be made on both the tool cost and tool changing
time due to the longer tool life achieved with LAM or PEM.
It has been reported that almost a 50% saving can be made
when LAM of Inconel 718 [10] and P550 stainless steel [25]
and PEM of steel [7]. About 30% and 40% saving have been
reported when LAM and hybrid LAM of Ti-6Al-4V alloy with a
coated tool [67].
In addition, coolant used in machining is generally toxic for the
operator and environment. Elimination of coolant in LAM shows
that LAM is an environmentally friendly process.
9. Concluding remarks and suggested future research topics
Thermally enhanced machining uses external heat sources to
heat the workpiece, change microstructure or remove the work-
piece locally in front of the cutting tool to facilitate the machining
process due to softening, change in deformation behaviour and
thinning of the workpiece. Generally, it offers lower cutting forces,
longer tool life, a better machined surface and higher material
removal rate for a variety of workpiece materials, such as
ceramics, metals and composites.
The local temperature of the material as it enters the shear
deformation zone plays an important role in the thermally
enhanced machining process. This temperature has to be main-
tained in the optimum range, which is dependent on the actual
workpiece material.
Position and orientation of the incident beam are also critical
to achieve the maximum benet from thermally enhanced
machining.
Thermally enhanced machining is a complicated process.
The external local heating not only changes the ow stress,
but also changes the deformation behaviour of the workpiece
and the friction between the chip and tool. So far, intensive
experimental works and modelling of temperature distribu-
tion have been reported. The authors suggest that future
research should be focused on the following topics in order to
fully address the remaining issues in the thermally enhanced
machining:
(1) Effective cooling of the cutting tool
Thermally enhanced machining introduces an external heat
source to heat the workpiece locally in front of the cutting
tool, which may result in high toolchip interface tempera-
tures. This high temperature may lead to shorter tool life
due to the premature degradation of the cutting tool
and accelerated dissolutiondiffusion and adhesion wear.
Therefore, it is clear that more effective methods for
enhancing separation of the chip from the tool and cooling
the cutting tool without affecting local heating of the work-
piece are required. These methods should be practically
applicable for both milling and turning operations during
thermally assisted machining.
(2) Application of the thermally enhanced machining to the
ductile workpiece
Most of the thermally enhanced machining research to date
has been focused on the hard-to-machine workpiece materi-
als which are characterized as having high hardness and
strength. However, some metals with high ductility are also
difcult to machine due to the high friction between the
cutting tool and chip and strong adhesion of the chip to the
cutting edge, which often leads to poor surface nish.
Reduction in local ductility of the workpiece as a result of
phase transformations in the chip during thermally enhanced
machining may be a solution to improve the machinability of
workpiece materials with high ductility.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
678 S. Sun et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 50 (2010) 663680
(3) Optimization of the thermally enhanced machining process
Additional processing parameters, such as, the position and
temperature of the heated area, have been introduced
as variables in the thermally enhanced machining process.
This makes process optimization more difcult. Therefore
both experimental and numerical modelling studies are
required in order to better optimize the thermally enhanced
machining process with consideration of both the physical
and the mechanical properties of the workpiece and tool
materials.
(4) Integration and control of the external heat source in the
thermally enhanced machining process
The integration of the external heat source is still a
challenging task for machining processes other than turning
operations for industrial applications, such as milling and
drilling. This integration should be in such a way that the heat
source is exible to move without collision and can be
controlled in accordance with the movement of the machine
tool in relation to the workpiece position.
(5) Modelling of the thermally enhanced machining process
Most of the modelling studies on thermally enhanced machin-
ing so far have been focused on the temperature distribution
due to external heating and cutting. More studies are required
in order to simulate the machining process with external
heating in order to understand and optimize the thermally
enhanced machining process. This involves the investigation of
material deformation behaviour at high temperature, high
temperature gradient and high strain rate. It also involved a
more detailed treatment of the tribological conditions between
the cutting tool and chip at high temperatures.
(6) Development of new heat sources
The most popular external heat sources used for thermally
enhanced machining so far are the plasma torch and the laser
beam. The plasma torch approach has difculties in accurately
controlling the size of the heated area which may lead to
a layer with microstructure alteration remained in the
machined surface. The laser beam process is limited by the
absorption characteristics of the workpiece material. Some
metals may require the application of an absorption enhan-
cing coating on the surface in order for the laser assisted
machining to be efciently applied in industry. The develop-
ment of a shorter wavelength laser which has higher
absorption coefcient by metals will also benet the laser
assisted machining process.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the CAST Cooperative
Research Centre and Defence Materials Technology Centre for the
nancial support and permission to publish this work. The CAST
Cooperative Research Centre was established and is supported
under the Australian Governments Cooperative Research Centres
Programme. The DMTC was established and is supported under
the Australian Governments Defence Future Capability Technol-
ogy Centres Programme.
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