A cobalt diffusion based model for predicting crater wear of carbide tools in machining titanium alloys

In machining titanium alloys with cemented carbide cutting tools, crater wear is the predominant wear mechanism influencing tool life and productivity. An analytical wear model that relates crater wear rate to thermally driven cobalt diffusion from cutting tool into the titanium chip is proposed in this paper. This cobalt diffusion is a function of cobalt mole fraction, diffusion coefficient, interface temperature and chip velocity. The wear analysis includes theoretical modeling of the transport-diffusion process, and obtaining tool-chip interface conditions by a nonisothermal visco-plastic finite element method (FEM) model of the cutting process. Comparison of predicted crater wear rate with experimental results from published literature and from high speed turning with WC/Co inserts shows good agreement for different cutting speeds and feed rate. It is seen that wear rates are independent of cutting time.