Tool life

SY B.Tech.

Introduction
Tool wear is a time dependent process. As cutting proceeds, the amount of tool wear increases gradually. But tool wear must not be allowed to go beyond a certain limit in order to avoid tool failure. The most important wear type from the process point of view is the flank wear, therefore the parameter which has to be controlled is the width of flank wear land, VB. This parameter must not exceed an initially set safe limit, which is about 0.4 mm for carbide cutting tools. The safe limit is referred to as allowable wear land (wear criterion), VBk. The cutting time required for the cutting tool to develop a flank wear land of width VBk is called tool life, T, a fundamental parameter in machining.

 The general relationship of VB versus cutting time is shown in the figure (so-called wear curve). Although the wear curve shown is for flank wear, a similar relationship occur for other wear types. The figure shows also how to define the tool life T for a given wear criterion VBk.

Flank wear as a function of cutting time. Tool life T is defined as the cutting time required for flank wear to reach the value of VBk

 The slope of the wear curve (that is the intensity of tool wear) depends on the same parameters, which affect the cutting temperature as the wear of cutting tool materials is a process extremely temperature dependent. Parameters, which affect the rate of tool wear are
cutting conditions (cutting speed V, feed f, depth of cut d) cutting tool geometry (tool orthogonal rake angle) properties of work material

 From these parameters, cutting speed is the most important one. As cutting speed is increased, wear rate increases, so the same wear criterion is reached in less time, i.e., tool life decreases with cutting speed:

(Left) Effect of cutting speed on wear land width and tool life for three cutting speeds. (Right) Natural log-log plot of cutting speed versus tool life.

 If the tool life values for the three wear curves are plotted on a natural log-log graph of cutting speed versus tool life as shown in the right figure, the resulting relationship is a straight line expressed in equation form called the Taylor tool life equation: VTn = C where n and C are constants, whose values depend on cutting conditions, work and tool material properties, and tool geometry. These constants are well tabulated and easily available. An expanded version of Taylor equation can be formulated to include the effect of feed, depth of cut and even work material properties.

Taylor Tool Life Equation

Taylor Equation:

VT n C VT n d x f y C

Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13148965-8. 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Effect of Workpiece Hardness and Microstructure on Tool Life

Figure : Effect of workpiece hardness and microstructure on tool life in turning ductile cast iron. Note the rapid decrease in tool life (approaching zero) as the cutting speed increases. Tool materials have been developed that resist high temperatures, such as carbides, ceramics, and cubic boron nitride.
Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Tool-life Curves
Figure : Tool-life curves for a variety of cuttingtool materials. The negative inverse of the slope of these curves is the exponent n in the Taylor tool-life equation and C is the cutting speed at T = 1 min, ranging from about 200 to 10,000 ft./min in this figure.

Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006

Cutting Tool Interface and Chip

Figure : Interface of a cutting tool (right) and chip (left) in machining plain-carbon steel. The discoloration of the tool indicates the presence of high temperatures. Compare this figure with the temperature profiles shown in Fig. Source: Courtesy of P. K. Wright.
Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006

Machined Surfaces Produced on Steel

(a)

(b)

Figure : Machined surfaces produced on steel (highly magnified), as observed with a scanning electron microscope: (a) turned surface and (b) surface produced by shaping. Source: Courtesy of J. T. Black and S. Ramalingam.
Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006

Dull Tool in Orthogonal Machining

Figure : Schematic illustration of a dull tool with respect to the depth of cut in orthogonal machining (exaggerated). Note that the tool has a positive rake angle, but as the depth of cut decreases, the rake angle effectively can become negative. The tool then simply rides over the Manufacturing, Engineering & workpiece (without Technology, Fifth Edition, by cutting) and burnishes its surface; this action raises the workpiece Serope Kalpakjian and Steven temperature and causes surface residual stresses.
R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006

Feed Marks on a Turned Surface

Surface roughness:
f2 Ra 8R where f feed R tool - nose radius

Figure: Schematic illustration of feed marks on a surface being turned (exaggerated).

Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Allowable Average Wear Land for Cutting Tools

Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid. ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006

Cutting tool wear as a function of basic process parameters

Wear control
As it was discussed earlier, the rate of tool wear strongly depends on the cutting temperature, therefore, any measures which could be applied to reduce the cutting temperature would reduce the tool wear as well. The above figure shows the process parameters that influence the rate of tool wear.