Effect of chamfer angle on wear of PCBN cutting tool

In precision hard turning, a remaining problem is to minimise tool wear to maintain the accuracy of geometry and surface finish. Tool wear not only directly reduces the part geometry accuracy but also increases cutting forces drastically. The change in the cutting forces also causes instability in the tool motion, which results in more inaccuracy. PCBN cutting tools are often used in hard turning. However, they are still relatively expensive compared to ordinary carbide cutting tools. In order to attain sufficiently high production rates at minimum cost, increase of knowledge on cutting tool geometry is necessary. This article presents a study of the effect of chamfer angle on tool wear of PCBN cutting tool in the super finishing hard turning. The correlation between cutting force, tool wear and tool life were investigated. The optimised chamfer angle for PCBN cutting tool is suggested. Finally, the distribution of stresses and maximum principal stress working on the tool edge were calculated with the use of finite element method. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.