Improvement of Machining Characteristics of Titanium Alloy with Modified Cutting Tool Inserts under Wet Condition

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1 2

Bishai, B., 2Narasimhulu, A., 3Rao, P. V., 4Ghosh, S.

bijoybishai.iitd@gmail.com

M.Tech Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi, New Delhi-110016, INDIA
narasimha.iitdelhi@gmail.com

Research Scholar, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi, New Delhi-110016, INDIA
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Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi, New Delhi-110016, INDIA

pvrao@mech.iitd.ac.in sudarsan.ghosh@gmail.com

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi, New Delhi-110016, INDIA

Abstract: Titanium and its alloys are classified as hard-to-machine materials because of their low thermal conductivity, high chemical reactivity and low modulus of elasticity. These unique characteristics result in high cutting temperature, short tool life and high level of tool vibration. In order to enhance the turning productivity in terms of tool life and surface finish, variation in tool geometry is the major parameter to be considered. The cutting tool has to be modified in such dimensions, so that it should have enough space to hold the coolant during machining. The cutting tool has to be modified such that the tool does not get adversely affected. While machining with such a modified tool, it has been found that forces came down by 20%-30% as compared to the one that are obtained during machining with unmodified tool. Finally to obtain the maximum benefits while using the modified tools modeling and optimization of parameters has been done with the help of RSM method and Genetic Algorithm. Keywords: thermal conductivity, tool life, tool modification, RSM method, Genetic Algorithm.

1 INTRODUCTION The demand for titanium alloys in the aerospace industry and other industries has dramatically increased in past decades due to their high strength to weight ratio, strong corrosion resistance and ability to retain high strength at high temperature. The high buy-to-fly ratio of titanium components for aerospace applications is a consequence of the large amount of material required to be removed by machining. Titanium and its alloys are classified as hard-to-machine materials due to their inherent physical and mechanical proper- ties. Because of the low thermal conductivity of titanium, the chip cannot effectively dissipate the heat generated by cutting with a large proportion (>70%) of the heat conducted into the cutting tool [1]. This leads to rapid increase in cutting temperatures with increase

in cutting speed. Combined with the high chemical reactivity of titanium with almost all of the cutting tool materials at high temperature, the tool life is substantially reduced when cutting speed is increased. Therefore, the machining of titanium alloys is a high-cost process due to long cycle times and tool costs [2].

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Difficulties in the Machining of Titanium Alloys Titanium alloys are usually machined with uncoated straight grade cemented carbide (WC-Co) tool at higher cutting speeds in excess of 45 m/min [3]. Machining at high speed conditions tend to generate high temperature close to the tool nose resulting in excessive stresses which results in

severe plastic deformation and subsequent failure of the tool [4]. At interfacial temperature of 500C and above, titanium and titanium alloys are very reactive with most of the conventional tool materials [5]. Yung C. Shin et al reported that a TiA1N coated carbide cutting tool performed 2-3 times better than an uncoated carbide tool for hybrid machining at all cutting speeds. With a TiA1N coated tool a 30% to 40% reduction in over all machining costs is achievable [6]. 2.2 Improvement of the Machining of Titanium Alloys by High Pressure Cooling Technique Improved machinability at higher cutting speed for machining of such titanium alloys can be realized if the cutting fluids are administered onto the secondary shear zone. High pressure coolant (HPC) administered to the tool tip performs this task. The high pressure cooling system not only provides adequate cooling at the tool-workpiece interface, but also provides an effective removal (flushing) of chips from the cutting area. The coolant jet under such high pressure, is capable of creating a hydraulic wedge between the tool and the workpiece, penetrating the interface deeply with a speed which exceeds that necessary even for very high speed machining and also changes the chip flow conditions [7]. The penetration of the high energy jet into the tool-chip interface reduces the temperature gradient and eliminates the seizure effect, offering an adequate lubrication at the toolchip interface with significant reduction in friction. Effective heat removal is essential when machining titanium due to its poor thermal conductivity [8]. Several investigations have shown that applying high-pressure coolant (HPC) technology not only increase production efficiency, by increasing the cutting speed but also improves chip removal mechanism, resulting in increased tool life while machining titanium alloys. The researchers have used mostly uncoated carbide tools [9-12]. 2.3 Improvement of the Machining of Titanium Alloys by Tool Geometry Modification The effectiveness of the coolant during machining of titanium alloys depend on its penetration and retention in the chip tool interface area. Sometime grooves on the rake face helps in proper retention and distribution of the cutting fluid at the chip tool contact. It has been reported that during machining of steel rods (AISI 1040 and

E4340C steel) with carbide inserts having macro grooves along the cutting edges and hills on the tool rake face, cryogenic cooling reduces the average cutting temperature, because the above said geometry has helped the cryogenic jet to come closer to the chip tool interface thus effectively cooling the interface [13]. Wu Ze et al. reported that the application of the self lubricating textured tool with elliptical grooves on its rake face can reduce the toolchip friction coefficient and the chip thickness ratio. The tool life of the textured tools is improved compared with that of the conventional tool. The effectiveness of the self-lubricating textured tools in improving cutting performance is related to the cutting parameter [14]. Recently Dhananchezian and Pradeep Kumar investigated the effect of liquid nitrogen when it is applied to the rake surface, and the main and auxiliary flank surfaces through holes made in the cutting tool insert during the turning of the Ti6A1-4V alloy using the PVD coated TiAlN modified cutting tool in the cryogenic cooling method. They have reported that by using the cryogenic cooling methods the cutting temperature was decreased by 61-66%, cutting force decreased by 35-42%, surface roughness and tool wear reduced to a maximum of 35% and 39% over wet machining respectively [15]. It could be seen from the literature that the modification of tool texture/ its geometry might be beneficial while machining of titanium alloys. The grooves on the rake surface tend to reduce the chip tool contact area; hence the friction forces reduced and moreover during the machining under wet condition facilitated better retention of fluid films that act as a coolant layer which led to effective cooling and reduction in the cutting forces. 3. Experimental Details 3.1 Workpiece Material Titanium alloys have found wide applications owing to its unique characteristics like low density or high strength to weight ratio (density of titanium is about 60% of that of steel or nickel-based super alloys) and excellent corrosion resistance (for biomedical, chemical and other corrosion-resistant environments). Titanium is an expensive metal to extract, melt, fabricate and machine. In the present study Ti-6A1-4V alloy bars . of 60 mm diameter and length 200 mm were used.

They were annealed and their compositions are given in the Table 1.

chemical

Table 1 Chemical composition(%) of Ti-6A1-4V Actual Values . % of Element C V Fe Al Ti 3.2 Cutting Tool In this work to assess the machinability of Ti-6A1-4V material the responses to be measured are surface finish and cutting forces with the uncoated insert with straight carbide K20 grade and the tool inserts with effective rake angle of -6 and the specifications of the insert used is CNMA120408 K313 3.3 Machine Tool setup Rigid, high power precision Leadwell T-6 lathe equipped with specially designed experimental set up was used to conduct the experiments. For increasing rigidity of the machining system, work piece material was held between chuck (three jaws) and tailstock (revolving centre). 3.4 Cutting Force Measurement The cutting forces were measured using Kistler piezoelectric multicomponent Dynamometer (model: 9257B) mounted on specially designed fixture. Kistler tool holder (model: 9129AA) was used for holding the 20X20 shank size cutting tool. The charge generated at the dynamometer was amplified using charge amplifier (Kistler Model: 5070A). The amplified signal was acquired, filtered and sampled using data acquisition system and stored in the computer using Dynoware software for further analysis. The sampling frequency of data was kept at 300 samples/s per channel and average value of steadystate force was used in the analysis. 3.5 Surface Roughness Measurements The measurements of average roughness (Ra) were made with the Taylor Hobson Surface roughness measuring instrument with Ultra Surface 0.027 3.89 0.11 5.81 Balance

Finish Software V5 version. Three measurements of surface roughness were taken at different locations and the average value has been used in the analysis. 3.6 Surface Texture Inspection and Grooves Dimensions Measurements The surface texture and grooves dimensions were measured on Ziess Stereo Discovery V.20 stereo microscope with Axio Vision Rel. 4.8 software. Dimensions were taken at different locations and then the average value was obtained. 3.7 Tool Modification

Fig.1 Modified Tool The Carbide tool was machined on Elektronika C-425 machine using a Tungstencopper strip to obtain the grooves of 0.26 mm width and 0.14mm depth. Two grooves parallel to the cutting edge on the rake surface by using following parameters given in the Table 2 are machined by the EDM process. Fig. 1 shows the photographic image of the modified tool insert. Table 2 Parameters used for machining carbide inserts modification
I.P Amp 5 I.B Amp 2 T ON position 11 T OFF position 7 GAP Volt 25 GAP current 11

4 EXPERIMENTAL PLAN PROCEDURE In this study, cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut are the input variables and cutting forces and surface roughness can be considered as an output performance characteristics. In the present research investigation three factors are being considered and each factor consists of four levels as shown in the Table 4.

Table 4 Factors and their levels

S.N o. 1 Factors Cutting speed (m/min) Feed (mm/re v) Depth of cut (mm) Symb ol V Level -1 60 Level -2 80 Level -3 100 Level -4 120

there has been a reduction in the force value. The design on the rake surface of the tool insert thus reduces forces and also opens up the scope for using higher velocities without significant change in main cutting force.

0.04

0.08

0.12

0.16

DOC

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

Number of experimental run was decided with the help of Taguchi L16 orthogonal array, to minimize the number of experimental runs. As per the Taguchi L16 (43) design of experiments, a total of 16 experiments are needed to be carried out. All 16 experiments will be repeated for machining of Ti-6Al-4V by using uncoated straight carbide inserts with unmodified and modified tool under wet environment. 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 16 turning experiments have been done under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool on Leadwell T6 CNC Lathe. The Dynamometer gives the force values Fx, Fy and Fz according to the direction of X, Y and Z. So in that set up dynamometer give cutting force as Fz, thrust force as Fy and Feed force as Fx. Fig.2 shows the variation of cutting forces (Fz) during machining of the Ti alloy by the modified tool and the unmodified tool with cutting velocity. It has been observed from the figure that the cutting force remains almost unchanged with the increase in cutting velocity. For the common engineering materials, especially in turning process, the major cutting force decreases with increase in cutting velocity but beyond a particular cutting velocity the force value does not change. It seems that in the present case the domain of the cutting velocities have been so chosen that the lowest one falls in that threshold value and hence any further increment in cutting velocity does not influence the force appreciably. It is further observed from the Fig.2 that the forces during machining of the Ti alloy by the modified tool have come consistently lower than those observed during machining by an unmodified tool. Such reduction in forces has been possible mainly because the chip contact area in modified tool has been reduced by making of the grooves. The lower chip tool contact length resulted in lesser friction force generation and consequently

Fig.2 Plot of Fz with V under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool

Fig.3 Plot of Fz with f under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool Fig.3 shows the comparison between the cutting forces (Fz) during machining of the Ti alloy by the modified tool and the unmodified tool with variation in feed. It is observed that the cutting force increases linearly with increase in feed. It is also observed that the forces during machining of the Ti alloy by the modified tool have come consistently lower than those observed during machining by an unmodified tool.

Fig.4 Plot of Fz with doc under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool Fig.4 shows that the variations of cutting forces (Fz) during turning with the modified tool and the unmodified tool with variation of depth of cut. It is observed that the cutting force increases

linearly with increase in depth of cut. At higher depth of cut more material is getting removed and consequently higher amount of forces are required. It is interesting to note that at higher depth of cut the main cutting force during machining of this Tialloy is very high. It is also observed that the forces during machining of the Ti alloy by the modified tool have come consistently lower than those observed during machining by an unmodified tool. The probable reason for such reduction in the force values has already been explained in the previous paragraph.

negligibly proving that the tool wear has increased but not catastrophically. Possibly better control of process parameters during making of the grooves in the tool may eliminate this problem.

Fig.7 Plot of Ra with Doc under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool

6. OPTIMIZATION PARAMETERS

OF

PROCESS

Fig.5 Plot of Ra with Cutting Velocity under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool Fig.5 shows that roughness value increases with increase in cutting velocity as the lubricating effect of the coolant at higher velocity diminishes. Also higher velocity results in higher wear of the tool and consequently the roughness of the machined surface increases. Even for the modified tool a slight increment in surface roughness is observed especially at the highest cutting speed. Possibly such increment occurred due to higher tool wear .

Mathematical prediction model of the cutting force and surface roughness have been developed using response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of high speed turning parameters on the cutting force (Fz) and surface roughness (Ra) have been evaluated and optimum machining conditions for minimizing the cutting force (Fz) and surface roughness (Ra) have been determined using RSM and genetic algorithm. After GA analysis it was found that at 60.05531 m/min cutting speed, V, 0.04 mm/rev. feed, F, and 0.4 mm depth of cut, DOC, the modified tool gives the optimal result. With this set of parameters maximum benefits can be obtained from the tool with respect to the cutting force and surface roughness. 6 CONCLUSIONS The following main conclusions may be drawn from the experiments conducted on Ti-6Al4V using uncoated unmodified and modified K20 inserts. The major conclusions are:

Fig.6 Plot of Ra with Feed under wet environment with unmodified and modified tool From the Fig.6 and Fig.7 it is clear that the roughness value obtained by using the modified tool is consistently more than the one obtained for unmodified tool. This has happened possibly because the modified tool has worn out more than the unmodified tool. However such higher wear has not significantly changed the roughness value. The roughness values have increased very

Machining of the Titanium alloy with unmodified tool inserts led to the generation of cutting forces which are significantly higher than those obtained during machining of steels. Hence an urgent need is felt to reduce the cutting forces and a possible method of such reduction is feasible by bringing about geometrical modification on the cutting tool insert.

 A modified cutting tool has been used to machine the Ti alloy under wet condition. It has been observed that force values came down 20%-30% as compared to the one that are obtained during such wet machining with unmodified tool. However surface roughness value obtained by using the modified tool is slightly more than the one obtained by the unmodified tool. This has happened possibly because the modified tool has worn out more than the unmodified tool. Better control of the machining method during generation of the grooves may eliminate this problem. Process parameters have been optimized using GA technique so that minimum forces are observed during the machining by the modified tool. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors are also grateful to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India, for providing the facilities to carry out the experiment. REFERENCES 1. Ezugwu, E. O., Wang, Z. M., Titanium alloys and their machinabilitya review, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 68, 262274, 1997. 2. Lo pez De Lacalle, L. N., Pe rez, J., Llorente, J. I., Sa nchez, J. A., Advanced cutting conditions for the milling of aeronautical alloys, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 100, 111, 2000. 3. Jawaid, A., Haron, Che, Abdullah, A., Tool wear characteristics in turning of Titanium alloy Ti-6246., Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 92-93, 329-334, 1999. 4. Haron, Che, C. H., Tool life and surface integrity in turning titanium alloy, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 118, 231237, 2001. 5. Hartung, P.D., Karmer, B.M., Tools wear in titanium machining, Annal CIRP 31, 1, 75-80, 1982. 6. Chinmaya R.Dankar a, Yung C. Shine a,n, John Barnes, Machinability improvement of titanium alloy(Ti-6AL-4V) via LAM and Hybrid machining, International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture, 50, 174-182, 2010.

7. Mazukiewicz, M., Kubala, Z., Chow, J., Metal Machining with high-pressure water-jet cooling assistance a new possibility, Journals of Engineering for Industry. 111, 1989. 8. Abdel-Aal, H.A., Nouari, M. Mansori, M. EI. Influence of thermal conductivity on wear when machining titanium alloys, Tribology International, 42, 2, 359-372, 2009. 9. Ezugwu, E.O., Bonney, J. Da Silva, R.B. Cakir, O., Surface integrity of finished turned Ti-6Al-4V alloy with PCD tools using conventional and high pressure coolant supplies, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 47, 2, 247-254, 2007. 10. Diniz, A.E., Microni, R., Influence of the direction and flow rate of cutting fluid on tool life in turning process of AISI 1045 steel, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 47, 2, 247-254, 2007. 11. Ezugwu, E.O., Bonney, J. Da Silva, R.B., Bonny, J., Machado, A.R., Evalution of the performance of CBN tools when turning Ti-6Al4Valoy with high pressure coolant supplies, International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 45, 9, 1009-1014, 2005. 12. L.N. Lopez de Lacalle, etal., Using high pressure coolant in the drilling and turning of low machinability alloys, International Journal of of Advance Manufacturing Technology, 16, 85-91, 2000.13. Dhar N.R., Paul S, Chattopadhyay A B. , The influence of cryogenic cooling on tool wear, dimentional accuracy and surface finish in turning AISI 4140 and E4340C steels, Wear, 249, 932-942, 2002. 14. Zu Ze, Deng J., Chen Y., Xing Y., Zhao J., Performance of the self-lubricating textured tools in the dry cutting of Ti-6Al-4V, International Journal of of Advance Manufacturing Technology, Published on 7 th January 2012. 15. Dhananchezian, M., Kumar P, M., Cryogenic turning of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy with modified cutting tool inserts, Cryogenics, 51, 34-40, 2011.