The influence of the microstructure of hardened tool steel workpiece on the wear of PCBN cutting tools

Due to the recent developments of advanced cutting tool materials in the superbarasive family, such as cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools, the interest in cutting hardened steels has increased significantly. High flexibility and ability to manufacture complex workpiece geometry in one set up is the main advantage of hard turning compared to grinding. The focus of this study is to investigate the performance and wear behavior of CBN tools in finish, dry turning of four different hardened steels, treated to the same hardness R-c = 54. The following four materials were machined: X155CrMoV 12 cold work steel (AISI D2), X38CrMoV5 (AISI H11) hot work steel, 35NiCrMo16 hot work steel and 100Cr6 bearing steel (AISI 52100). A large variation in tool wear rate was observed in the machining of these steels. The tool flank grooves have been correlated to the microstructure of these steels, namely the presence of various carbides. The chip study reveals that there is presence of different amounts of white layers in machining these steels. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.