A study on the appropriate usage of different tool materials

Abstract

Coated tungsten carbide inserts are most widely used in the turning operation. However, no proper investigation has been carried out so far to specify their appropriate usage. On the one hand, reported investigations regarding th eperformance evaluation of various insert materials are very fewl; on the other hand no comparative performance evaluation has beenmade in those studies except for the catalogue information supplied by the manufacturers. For a fully automated, unmanned and flexible machining cell to materialize, and also for proper cost evaluation of components to be machined, a thorough evaluation of different types of coated inserts is of utmost importance. Thus an attempt and aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The evaluation, based on a 3-level factorial experimental design for the input parameters, has been carried out in this paper through cutting tests in a CNC lathe under various cutting parameters. Marked differences have been observed in the performance characteristics of the three types of coatings, as reflected in the output parameters, and an attempt has been made to explain these observations. © 1992.