Materials & Design

Materials and Design 25 (2004) 507513 www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Technical report

Investigation of the cutting parameters depending on process sound during turning of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel
_ Zafer Tekner *, Sezgin Yes _lyurt
Received 11 June 2003; accepted 9 December 2003

Department of Mechanical Education Faculty, Gazi University, Bes evler, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract In this work, determination of the best suitable cutting conditions and cutting parameters during machining of AISI 304 stainless steels has been aimed by taking into consideration process sound. For determination of the best cutting parameters in the stainless steels machining, the samples which were prepared to be used in the experiment, 200 mm in length and 30 mm in diameter, were machined in a CNC turning centre. Each part of samples was machined through the 150 mm length and the depth of cut was 2.5 mm. Turning tests were performed with three dierent feed rates (0.2, 0.25, 0.3 mm/rev) at each cutting speed, 120, 135, 150, 165, 180 m/min. During experiments, process sounds were recorded by a computer incorporating a microphone. The best cutting speed and feed rate were determined according to ank wear, built up edge, chip form, surface roughness of the machined samples and machine tool power consumption. The ideal cutting parameters and cutting process sounds obtained were compared. In this way, the best cutting parameters could be determined depending on the sound. Finally, cutting speed of 165 m/min and feed rate of 0.25 mm/rev gave the best results and the analyses of the process sound conrmed these values. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Machinability; Cutting parameters

1. Introduction Austenitic stainless steels are dicult to machine [1,2]. Many attempts have been made to improve the machinability of these steels [35]. Stainless steels are known as their resistance to corrosion. But their machinability is more dicult than the other alloy steels due to some reasons such as having low heat conductivity, high built-up edge tendency and high deformation hardening [6,7]. In this study, AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel was used to help the manufacturers. In this work, the values of ank wear, built up edge, chip form, machine tool power consumption and surface roughness were investigated and by this way the best cutting parameters were determined. Apart from classical methods, it was also investigated that the process sound generated during machining could be used to assess machinability.
Corresponding authors: Tel.: + 90-312-212-68-20/1834; fax: +90312-212-00-59. E-mail address: ztekiner@gazi.edu.tr (Z. Tek_ner). 0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2003.12.011
*

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Materials AISI 304 stainless steel bars were prepared with 30 mm in diameter and 200 mm length for the experiment with 2.5 mm depth of cut and 150 mm lengths 3 passes chips were removed between chuck and tailstock (Fig. 1). Chemical composition of this material is given in Table 1. Test samples, which were prepared to investigate the most suitable cutting parameters for this material, were machined at 120, 135, 150, 165, 180 m/min cutting speeds and 0.2, 0.25, 0.3 mm/rev feed rate in Johnford CNC turning centre. During machining, pressure levels of process sound were measured and these sounds were recorded by a microphone on a computer. WC ISO P10 cemented carbide tool was, used in the experiment. The inserts were clamped mechanically on a rigid tool holder and had NL 25 Stellram designation. Surface roughness was measured using a Wild Heerbrugo instrument.

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Fig. 1. Samples used in the experiments.

Table 1 Chemical composition of AISI 304 stainless steel C 0.05487 Si 0.64 Mn 1.66 Cr 18.2 Ni 9.11 Mo 0.092 Cu 0.14 Ti 0.006 Al 0.00 V 0.046 W 0.048 Co 0.40 Nb 0.013 Pb 0.015 Sn 0.00 Fe 69.7

2.2. Methods This work was carried out to determine the cutting parameters according to the cutting process sound. For this reason, the relation between the classical methods and the results from the cutting process sound were examined. As a result of this examination, the best cutting parameters were tried to be obtained according to cutting process sound. Test samples were machined at ve dierent cutting speeds 120, 135, 150, 165 and 180 m/min according to the recommendation of the tool manufacturers. These cutting speed ranges between 120 and 180 m/min. For each cutting speed, three dierent feed rates were used, 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 mm/rev machinability tests were carried out according to ISO 3685. Coolant during cutting was not used. A new cutting edge was used for each test during machining and chip samples were taken. Pressure levels of cutting sound were measured and also these cutting

sounds were recorded using experimental setup [8] (Fig. 2). Ideal cutting parameters were determined by taking into consideration the followings: Flank wear Built up edge Radii of chip curl Surface roughness Sound pressure

3. Results and discussion 3.1. The eect of cutting speed and feed rate on ank wear The values of ank wear resulting from ve dierent cutting speeds 120, 135, 150, 165 and 180 m/min and three dierent feed rates 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 mm/rev were compared in Fig. 3. The increase of cutting speed and

Fig. 2. Experimental setup.

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Fig. 3. The eect of cutting speed on ank wear.

creased in low cutting speeds and in high feed rates (Figs. 5 and 6). Chip owed slowly owing to the increase of chip thickness and by this way heat was thrown slowly. Slow chip ow and high temperature converted the chip colour in to yellow and in other words chip thickness did this (Figs. 7 and 8). At the same time, power consumption at the machine decreased owing to low chip thickness during chip removal. Less vibration was observed and surface roughness got better due to the decrease of power consumption. 3.3. The eect of cutting speed and feed rate on the surface roughness The eect of cutting speed and feed rate values on the surface roughness were given in Fig. 9. The lowest average value of surface roughness got obtained at 150 m/min cutting speed. Surface roughness values obtained from at 165 and 180 m/min cutting speeds were little higher than the one obtained from at 150 m/min. If we examine the eect at the feed rate values on surface roughness, the values from 0.2 and 0.25 mm/rev are close to each other. On the other hand, the surface roughness value was observed higher than the others. So, if the surface roughness quality is important, feed rate should not be higher than 0.25 mm/rev. 3.4. The eect of cutting speed and feed rate on built up edge Built up edge values forming on insert used in different cutting parameter were measured by microscope, by doing this, it was seen that cutting speed increased and built up edge value decreased. If we examine Fig. 10, we can see that relation between cutting speed and built up edge. The lowest built up edge value got obtained at 180 m/ min cutting speed. The eect of the feed rate on built up

Fig. 4. The eect of feed rates on ank wear.

the decrease of ank wear can be seen from the Fig. 3. If we look at the eect of the feed rate on ank wear value, ank wear is decreasing while feet rate is rising from 0.2 to 0.25 mm/rev; and then it is starting to increase when it is rising 0.3 mm/rev (Fig. 4). From this point, we could conclude that with increasing cutting speed, ank wear decreases. In the feed rates, the lowest ank wear is observed at 0.25 mm/rev for all the cutting speeds (Fig. 4). 3.2. Evaluation of chip formation in dierent cutting speeds and feed rates When the chip forms were investigated, it was seen that chip curl radii decreased and chip thickness in-

Fig. 5. Average chip curl radii and thicknesses in dierence cutting speeds.

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Fig. 6. Average chip curl radii and thicknesses in dierence feed rates.

Fig. 7. Chip formation at 0.2 mm/rev feed rate: (a) 120 m/s, (b) 150 m/s and (c) 180 m/s.

Fig. 8. Chip formation at 180 m/s speed rate: (a) 0.2 mm/rev, (b) 0.25 mm/rev, (c) 0.3 mm/rev.

Fig. 9. Surface roughness in dierent cutting speed and feed rates.

edge value was also given (Fig. 11). The increase of feed rate was also risen built up edge value. As cutting speed increased, built up edge decreased; however as feed rate increased, built up edge also increased in Fig. 10 and 11. 3.5. The eect of cutting speed and feed rate on the sound pressure level Before starting to machine the experiment samples, sound pressure levels were recorded for each cutting speed by xing machine revolution before cutting pro-

Fig. 10. Eect of cutting speed on built up edge.

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Fig. 11. Eect of feed rate on built up edge in 165 m/min cutting speed.

cesses. Cutting sound pressure levels were determined by taking these sound pressure levels as the reference with the help of used software. Cutting sound pressure level did not aect from the sound pressure level of machine revolution. In this work, cutting sound pressure levels are only the level occurred during the cutting process and by this way machine factor was tried to elimination.
Table 2 Total sound pressure levels Feed rates (mm/rev) Cutting speed (m/min) 120 (dB) 0.2 0.25 0.3 92 95.4 103.5 135 (dB) 93.6 94.9 100.3

At the same time, total sound pressure includes the sound of machine revolution and cutting process sound. If the researchers want to use cutting sound pressure values, they have to add sound pressure level caused from machine revolution they use, to the cutting sound pressure level. Total sound pressure level occurred in each cutting parameters of experiment samples and cutting sound pressure level were recorded in computer with the software. Total sound pressure levels obtained from the measurement results are shown in Table 2 and cutting sound pressure levels shown in Table 3. If cutting sound pressure levels are examined, the vibration caused by the piece length is seen. At the beginning of the cutting, this eect was a little more, but then it was lower. Because of this, during the evaluation, sound pressure level occurred at the beginning of cutting process was ignored. Cutting sound values given in this work are cutting sound pressure occurred at 150 mm cutting length. Eect of the vibration was given (Fig. 12).

150 (dB) 89.4 92.7 95.7

165 (dB) 86.7 88 92

180 (dB) 88.5 89 98.5

Table 3 Cutting sound pressure levels Feed rates (mm/rev) Cutting speed (m/min) 120 (dB) 0.2 0.25 0.3 12.5 15.9 24 135 (dB) 12.7 13.8 19.2 150 (dB) 7.4 10.7 13.7 165 (dB) 3.8 5.1 9.1 180 (dB) 5.4 5.9 15.4

Fig. 12. Eect of the vibration at 165 m/min cutting speed.

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Till the speed of 165 m/min, cutting sound pressure levels decreased with the increase of cutting speed. At the speed of 180 m/min cutting sound pressure levels increased. After the cutting speed of 165 m/min when the surface quality began to get worse, sound pressure levels also increased. In Figs. 13 and 14, cutting sound pressure levels in dierent parameters are given. In Fig. 14, cutting sound pressure levels in ve different cutting speeds are compared. With the increase of feed rate, cutting force, vibration, and surface roughness also increased parallel to the increase of machining sound pressure levels. One hundred and sixty ve metres per minute cutting speeds in which surface roughness values are small, and cutting sound pressure levels occurred in 0.25 mm/rev feed rate are a little higher than the sound pressure levels occurred in 0.20 mm/rev feed rate. By increasing the feed rate as 0.30 mm/rev, the highest cutting sound pressure levels and surface roughness values were obtained for all cutting speeds. With the increase of cutting speed and the decrease of surface roughness, machining sound pressure levels also decreased. At low cutting speed in which surface roughness increased, machining sound pressure levels increased. The eect of cutting sound pressure level on surface roughness is given in Fig. 15.

Fig. 13. Eect of cutting speed on cutting sound pressure.

Fig. 15. The eect of cutting sound pressure level on surface roughness in dierent cutting speed and feed rates.

4. Conclusion 1. Cutting sound pressure levels have decreased parallel to positive results occurred in chip removal. 2. In AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel machining, as examining ank wear, chip formation, surface roughness, built up edge, we have also got the most suitable cutting parameters. At the same time, we have also got the same parameters by comparing cutting sound pressure levels by comparing cutting sound pressure levels.

Fig. 14. Eect of feed rates on cutting sound pressure.

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3. As it is clearly seen from this work, with the change of cutting parameters, cutting sound pressure levels also change. If there is no cutting process, total sound pressure level will be so low. Also if there is a negative event in cutting process, sound pressure level will suddenly increase or decrease. Therefore, cutting sound pressure level is an available method to develop an alarming system. References
[1] Akasawa T et al. Eect of free-cutting additives on the machinability of austenitic stainless steels. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2003;143144(December):6671.

[2] Kosa T et al. Machining of Stainless Steels, Metals Handbook. ninth ed. ASM International; 1989. p. 681. [3] Qi HS, Mills B. On the formation mechanism of adherent layers on a cutting tool. Wear 1996;198(October):1926. [4] OSullivan D, Cotterell M. Machinability of austenitic stainless steel SS303. Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2002;124:1539. [5] Modern metal cutting-a practical handbook. Sweden: SandvikCoromant Co. Inc. 1997. [6] Groover MP. Fundamentals of modern manufacturingmaterials process, and systems. Englewood Clis, NJ: PrenticeHall; 1996.  [7] Kopa J, Sali S. Tool wear monitoring during the turning c process. Journal of Material Processing Technology 2001;113: 3126. [8] Yesilyurt S. MSc. Thesis. Ankara Turkey. Gazi University Institute of Science and Technology. 2003.