The paper is concerned with a feasibility study of tool life and tool wear when employing high depths of cut (between 10 and 20 mm) and different cutter path strategies in the high-speed milling (HSM) of hardened die/mould steel. Following a review of previous work, experimental data are presented on the peripheral milling of hardened AISI H13 steel (HRC 52) using raster, single-direction raster and offset machining strategies. Coated carbide corner-radius end mills with a diameter of 10mm were employed with a fixed cutting speed of 314m/min and a feed per tooth of 0.067mm. From the experimental results it was realized that a raster cutter path strategy (combination of up and down milling) combined with high-depth roughing achieved the lowest tool wear. The offset strategy achieved the lowest tool life at all axial depths of cut within the range investigated. The experimental results clearly show that cutter path strategies and axial depths of cut have a significant effect on the tool life and tool wear for the cutters employed.
DewesR. C.AspinwallD. K.A review of ultra high speed machining of hardened steels. J. Mater. Processing Technol., 1997, 69(1–3), 1–17.
2.
TonshoffH. K.KarpuschewskiB.BlawitC.AMB-spindles for high speed machining of grey cast iron. In 1st French and German Conference on High Speed Machining, Metz, France, 1997, pp. 228–239.
3.
DewesR. C.AspinwallD. K.High speed machining of hardened steels using coated tungsten carbide ball end mills. In 2nd International German and French Conference on High Speed Machining, Darmstadt, Germany, 1999, pp. 165–174.
4.
BeczeC. E.ClaytonP.ChenL.El-WardanyT. I.ElbestawiM. A.High speed five-axis milling of hardened tool steel. Int. J. Mach. Tools Mf., 2000, 40(6), 869–885.
5.
ElbestawiM. A.ChenL.BeczeC. E.El-WardanyT. I.High speed milling of dies and moulds in their hardened state. Ann. CIRP, 1997, 46(1), 57–62.
6.
IkedaT.MatsuokaT.NakagawaT.High speed milling of steel and tool life. In 8th International Conference of the Tool, Die and Mould Industry (International Special Tooling Association), Barcelona, Spain, 1995, pp. 85–92.
7.
KimS. W.LeeC. M.KangM. C.KimJ. S.Evaluation of machinability by cutting environments in high speed ball end milling. J. Mater. Processing Technol., 2001, 111(1–3), 406–409.
8.
KoshyP.AspinwallD. K.DewesR. C.A composite tool for ball endmilling. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part B: Engineering Manufacture, 2001, 215(B8), 1157–1163.
9.
MutouM.MoritaN.YoshidaY.Study on high speed milling of hard materials (2nd report). Effect of tool shape on cutting force, cutting edge temperature and tool wear. J. Jap. Soc. for Precision Engng, 1999, 65(2), 234–239.
10.
MinaminoS.KitajimaK.SakamotoY.OhtaH.KishimotoK.High speed cutting by using high performance end mill. In Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Progress of Cutting and Grinding, Osaka, Japan, 1996, Vol. 3, pp. 201–204.
11.
NelsonS.SchuellerJ. K.TlustyJ.Tool wear in milling hardened die steel. Trans. ASME, J. Mfg Sci. Engng, 1998, 120(4), 669–673.
12.
TakahashiI.AnzaiM.NakagawaT.Tool wear characteristics of small diameter ball end mill on ultra high speed milling at 100 000rpm rotation speed. J. Jap. Soc. for Precision Engng, 1999, 65(6), 867–871.
13.
TakahashiI.AnzaiM.NakagawaT.Development of ultra high speed milling machine using reciprocating layer cutter path. J. Jap. Soc. for Precision Engng, 1999, 65(5), 714–718.
14.
GuJ.BarberG.TungS.GuR. J.Tool life and wear mechanism of uncoated and coated milling inserts. Wear, 1999, 225-229(1), 273–284.
15.
RahmanM.KumarA. S.SalamM. U.Evaluation of minimal quantities of lubricant in end milling. Int. J. Advd Mfg Technol., 2001, 18(4), 235–241.
16.
YamadaY.AokiT.TanakaY.HayasakiH.MotonishiS.High speed cutting performance of (Al, Ti)N coated carbide end mills. In Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Progress of Cutting and Grinding, Osaka, Japan, 1996, Vol. 3, pp. 211–216.
17.
DinizA. E.FilhoJ. C.Influence of the relative positions of tool and workpiece on tool life, tool wear and surface finish in the face milling process. Wear, 1999, 232(1), 67–75.
18.
ISO 8688-2 Tool Life Testing in Machining–Part 2, 1989 (International Standards Organization).
19.
PogacnikM.KopacJ.Some advantages of down milling. In Technical Paper of the SME, North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC XXIII), Houghton, Michigan, 1996, pp. 9–14.
20.
TohC. K.Evaluation of cutter path strategies and orientations when high speed milling hardened AISI H13 hot work tool steel. PhD thesis, University of Birmingham, 2003.
21.
OishiK.Built-up edge elimination in mirror cutting of hardened steel. Trans. ASME, J. Engng for Industry, 1995, 117(1), 62–66.
22.
DumitrescuM.ElbestawiM. A.El-WardanyT. I.ChenL.Critical assessment of carbide and PCBN tool performance in high speed milling of dies and moulds. In Transactions of North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME, North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC XXVI), Atlanta, Georgia, 1998, pp. 183–188.
23.
TonshoffH. K.AmorR. B.AndraeP.Chip formation in high speed cutting (HSC). In 3rd International Conference on Machining and Grinding, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1999, MR99-253, 11 pp.
24.
NgE.-G.AspinwallD. K.Evaluation of cutting force and temperature when turning hardened die steel with Amborite AMB90 and DBC 50 tooling. Ind. Diamond Rev., 1999, 59(582), 183–240.
25.
RaoB.ShinY. C.Analysis on high speed face milling of 7075-T6 aluminium using carbide and diamond cutters. Int. J. Mach. Tools Mf., 2001, 41(12), 1763–1781.
26.
LeshockC. E.ShinY. C.Investigation on cutting temperature in turning by a tool–work thermocouple technique. Trans. ASME, J. Mfg Sci. Engng, 1997, 119(4), 502–508.
27.
LeeS. K.KoS. L.Improvements of the accuracy in the machining of a deep shoulder cut by end milling. J. Mater. Processing Technol., 2001, 111(1–3), 244–249.
28.
PekelharingA. J.The exit failure in interrupted cutting. Ann. CIRP, 1978, 27(1), 5–10.
29.
GhaniA. K.BarrowG.Tool failure at exit during interrupted cutting. Ann. CIRP, 1985, 34(1), 71–74.
30.
RamarajT. C.SanthanamS.ShawM. C.Tool fracture at the end of a cut–Part 1: Foot formation. Trans. ASME, J. Engng for Industry, 1988, 110(4), 333–338.
31.
CselleT.Rotating tools for dry and high speed cutting. In 2nd International German and French Conference on High Speed Machining, Darmstadt, Germany, 1999, pp. 37–46.
32.
ShawM. C.Fracture of metal cutting tools. Ann. CIRP, 1979, 28(1), 19–21.
33.
MariD.GonsethD. R.A new look at carbide tool life. Wear, 1993, 65(1), 9–17.
34.
OlveraO.BarrowG.An experimental study of burr formation in square shoulder face milling. Int. J. Mach. Tools Mf., 1996, 36(9), 1005–1020.
35.
ChouY. K.EvansC. J.Cubic boron nitride tool wear in interrupted hard cutting. Wear, 1999, 225-229(1), 234–245.
36.
TrentE. M.Metal Cutting, 3rd edition, 1991, pp. 1068–1069 (Butterworths, London and Boston).
