International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol:14 No:06
Chip Formation and Coefficient of Friction in
Turning S45C Medium Carbon Steel
A. R. Natasha, Hazreen Othman, Jaharah A. Ghani, Che Hassan Che Haron, and J. Syarif
Abstract This paper presents the tribology issue regarding
the chip formation in machining medium carbon steel (S45C)
using coated and uncoated carbide tool. The machining
parameters under investigation were cutting speed, feed rate, and
depth of cut under dry cutting condition using coated and
uncoated carbide tools. The chip shape was largely depends on
the combination of machining parameters especially at high depth
of cut, the favorable chips was produced. Smaller value of
coefficient of friction indicates that the shear angle is larger which
results in smaller shear plane area that provides benefits of lower
cutting force needed to shear off the chips and lower cutting
temperature being generated during the machining process.
Index Term medium carbon steel (S45C), turning process,
chip formation, carbide tools
I. INTRODUCTION
THE chip formation is a result of tearing or pulling rather than
cutting, which will affect the tool life, surface finish, and
workpiece accuracy. An in depth understanding of the
relationship between the range of cutting parameters and their
influences on the chip formation is very crucial for optimizing
the machining output. Earlier findings reviewed by Zorev [1],
indicated that high speeds and heavy loads caused large
changes in chip and cutting temperatures during machining.
However, direct influence of the depth of cut on the chip
formation process is insignificant, as well as at low cutting
speeds. From the point of view of tribology, increasing the
load leads directly to higher stresses, and this will result in
more severe damage [2].
When machining hardened steels, workpiece material
microstructure and thermal properties affect chip flow. It is
common to observe that different thermal properties of the tool
material may result in lower cutting forces [3]. When
A.R. Natasha is with Department of Manufacturing and Material, Faculty
of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O.Box 10, 50728
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (email: tasha0812@gmail.com)
Hazreen Othman was with Department of Mechanical and Materials
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia.
Jaharah A. Ghani is with Department of Mechanical and Materials
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia.
Che Hassan Che Haron is with Department of Mechanical and Materials
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia.
J. Syarif was with Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia.
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machining hardened materials, continuous chip formation is
observed at a conventional to high cutting speeds and low to
moderate feed rates [3]. At higher feed rates saw-tooth chips
are produced. The later type of chip formation can cause cyclic
variations of both cutting and thrust forces and can result in
high frequency vibration that affect tool life and tool failure.
Fallbohmer et al. [3] recent studies show that the formation of
saw-tooth chips is due to periodic formation of cracks at the
head of the tool. The fracture on the surface of the workpiece
propagates inside the chips until the stress state is altered from
a low to high compressive stress region. According to recent
observations, the frequency of shear localized saw-tooth shape
chips is very high. The cutting edge is subjected to a high
frequency force variation. The chip formation certainly affects
the cutting force. Segmented chips are produced by plastic
instability and they are responsible for reducing the cutting
force [4]. Crater wear increases monotonically with increasing
speed, and the serrations in chip become obvious [5] and the
chip thickness decreases [4][5].
The effect of tool geometry on chip formation was
investigated in the 1940s by Merchant [6] covering two
common types of geometry which occur in cutting, His
findings are still being referred by today researchers. Hirao et
al. [7] investigated the effect of chamfered tools; their
qualitative observation found that the phenomena of chip
formation using chamfered and non-chamfered tools were
similar, except the thrust force is strongly affected and
increases with both the chamfer angle and its length.
By controlling the contact area between the chip and the
tool, Hsu [8] showed the variation of the coefficient of friction
in metal cutting. Changing in the size of the sticking region has
been observed. The results also show that the force on the tool
face varies with the depth of cut and the contact length. The
variation of the normal and tangential forces influenced the
stress distribution on the tool face. Boothroyd [9] showed the
work surface slope (rate of change of undeformed chip
thickness) on the shear angle in metal cutting depends on the
initial value of the shear angle and, hence on the cutting
conditions.
In the present paper, the focus of the study is to investigate
the chip formation and its effect on coefficient of friction in
turning S45C medium carbon steel.
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 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol:14 No:06 90

II. METHODOLOGY III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The experimental works in this research were conducted on The measured values of chip thickness and also calculated
S45C carbon steel with original hardness of 59 HRB using a values of shear angle and coefficient of friction have been
TORNADO CNC lathe machine (6000 rpm). Two types of tabulated and grouped according to the parameters variation to
carbide inserts were employed in the experiments. The turning assist the comparison of chip formation under the effect of
experiments were conducted in dry condition. Table I shows different machining parameters. The shape and type of the
the chemical composition of S45C carbon steel. chips formed during the cutting processed have been classified
TABLE I
in 5 categories [12] as in Table III below. The dependency of
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF S45C CARBON STEEL (WT%) the chip shape on the cutting parameters, specifically depth of
C Si Mn P S cut and feed rate is shown in Fig.1 [13].
0.42 0.48 0.15 0.35 0.6 0.9 0.03 max 0.035 max
TABLE III
The value of cutting speed (Vc), depth of cut (t), feed rate SYMBOL AND DESCRIPTION USED IN DESCRIBING THE CHIPS
(So) and rake angle () is shown in Table II. Symbol
Description c & medium long long long and
TABLE II -type helical helical helical snarled
VARIABLES PARAMETERS USED IN THE EXPERIMENT broken broken broken unbroken unbroken
Item Description chips chips chips chips chips
Workpiece material S45C carbon steel
Cutting inserts CNGG 120408 H13A (uncoated)
CNGG 120408 SGF1105 (coated)
Rake angle () -6
Cutting speed (m/min) 120, 160, 200, 240
Feed (mm/rev) 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5
Depth of cut 0.5, 1.0, 1.5
Cutting condition Dry

Chips from all the tests were then collected to closely

examine the shape and chip thickness. The thickness of the
chips was measured using a precision micrometer with
accuracy of 0.001 mm. Photographs of the chips were taken
using Olympus stereo microscope SZ61 with magnification
range of 6.7x 45x.
Using the measured value of chip thickness, cutting ratio of
the cutting process can be calculated as in (1) [10] below: Fig. 1. Influence of depth of cut and feed on chip formation

(1) It is shown in Table IV-Table VII below that the thickness

of the chips formed during the machining process are reduced
where to is the undeformed chip thickness, and tc is the at higher cutting speed, lower feed rate, and lower depth of cut.
measured chip thickness. Meanwhile, cutting with a coated insert produced thinner chips
From the obtained value of cutting ratio and rake angle of compared to the chips produced in cutting with uncoated
the insert, shear angle was calculated using following (2) [10]: insert. Reduction in chip thickness provides the advantages of
lower cutting force needed to shear the chips from the
(2) workpiece material [14] and also improve chip breakability
[10] along the cutting process. Theoretically, the reduction of
where is the shear angle, r is the cutting ratio, and is the chip thickness will result in larger shear angle and shorter
rake angle of the insert. shear plane. These three important terminologies in cutting
From the value of inserts rake angle and resulted shear process; the chip thickness, shear angle and shear plane, are
angle, the value of coefficient of friction can be calculated as inter-related to each other. A small shear angle is associated to
in (3) [11]: a longer shear plane, which indicates thicker chip. On the other
hand, a large shear angle is associated with shorter shear plane
(3) indicating thinner chip being produced during the cutting
process [15].
where is the coefficient of friction, and can be obtained This will result in less force needed to shear off the chips
from the below (4) [11]: hence resulting in lower friction coefficient. Previous
researchers have also proven that increased shear angle is one
(4) of the evidence showing that the friction during the cutting
process is reduced [16]. In addition, the value of cutting ratio

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 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol:14 No:06 91

also plays an important role to determine the resulted shear TABLE V

CHIP PRODUCED UNDER DIFFERENT FEED RATE
angle, hence also the coefficient of friction [12].
Vc t So Chip formed tc
From the obtained value of shear angle and the effective
rake angle of the insert, the values of coefficient of friction
have been calculated. It can be seen in Table IV-Table VII that
there are quite significant decrement in the value of coefficient 0.2 0.39 25.83 0.63
of friction when. The same decrement pattern can also be
observed in the value of friction coefficient when cutting with
coated insert. The value of cutting ratio usually decreases at
higher speed and higher feed as a result of plasticization and
shrinkage of the shear zone and built-up edge formation at the
0.3 0.455 31.53 0.38
chip-tool interface due to increase in temperature and sliding
velocity [12]. Furthermore, the effective rake angle at the tip of
the tool contacting with the workpiece during cutting is
120 0.5
expectedly increased with increase in uncut chip thickness [12]
which is equivalent to the feed in turning operation.
Lower temperature observed at the chip-tool interface in 0.4 0.535 34.59 0.26
those cutting conditions helps in maintaining the high level of
hardness of the chip face adjacent to the tool rake face. This

condition results in prevention of adhesion of the chips to the
tool rake face hence reduced the friction between the chips and
the tool, makes the sliding of the chips easier [16][17].
Meanwhile, at higher temperature, the softening of the chips 0.5 0.6 37.32 0.16
due to high temperature at the primary cutting zone makes the
chips become sticky and adhere to the tool rake face [10].
Therefore, the friction is higher in between the chip-tool
interface during the chip shearing process. TABLE VI
CHIP PRODUCED UNDER DIFFERENT DEPTH OF CUT
TABLE IV Vc So t Chip formed tc
CHIP PRODUCED UNDER DIFFERENT CUTTING SPEED
So t Vc Chip formed tc

0.5 0.39 25.83 0.63

120 0.39 25.83 0.63

120 0.2 1.0 0.4 25.29 0.66

160 0.37 26.97 0.58

0.2 0.5

1.5 0.41 24.78 0.69

200 0.36 27.57 0.55

240 0.335 29.20 0.48

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 International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering IJMME-IJENS Vol:14 No:06 92

TABLE VII International Conference on Mwchanical Engineering 2007, 2007,

CHIP PRODUCED DURING CUTTING WITH DIFFERENT INSERTS COATING vol. 2007, no. December, pp. 2931.
Vc So t Insert Chip formed tc [13] K. DeBenedictis, Read your Chips, Modern Machine Shop, 1998.
[Online]. Available: http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/read-your-
chips.
[14] R. Suresh, S. Basavarajappa, V. N. Gaitonde, and G. L. Samuel,
Coated 0.808 30.03 0.44 Machinability investigations on hardened AISI 4340 steel using
coated carbide insert, Int. J. Refract. Met. Hard Mater., vol. 33, pp.
7586, Jul. 2012.
[15] M. Stanford, P. M. Lister, C. Morgan, and K. A. Kibble,
120 0.5 1.5
Investigation into the use of gaseous and liquid nitrogen as a cutting
fluid when turning BS 970-80A15 (En32b) plain carbon steel using
WCCo uncoated tooling, J. Mater. Process. Technol., vol. 209, no.
Uncoated 0.83 29.41 0.47 2, pp. 961972, Jan. 2009.
[16] S. Y. Hong, Y. Ding, and W. Jeong, Friction and cutting forces in
cryogenic machining of Ti6Al4V, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf.,
vol. 41, no. 15, pp. 22712285, Dec. 2001.
[17] Y. Yildiz and M. Nalbant, A review of cryogenic cooling in
machining processes, Int. J. Mach. Tools Manuf., vol. 48, no. 9, pp.
947964, Jul. 2008.
IV. CONCLUSION
From the experimental investigations discussed above, the
following major points can be concluded.

(1) Machining at higher cutting speed, Vc, and lower depth of

cut, t, produced thinner chips which resulted in higher cutting
ratio hence lowering the coefficient of friction.
(2) Higher feed rate resulted in increment of chip thickness,
but also higher cutting ratio due to the proportional increment
of the effective rake angle of the tool with the feed, therefore
lowering the frictional force.
(3) Cutting with coated insert reduced the coefficient of
friction between the tool and the chip due to lubrication effect
of the coating material.

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