Machining technology has undergone an extensive evolution throughout the last decades in its capability to machine hard-to-cut material. This paper will discuss about the next generation insert with cooling feature coupled with forced coolant in machining Inconel 718. The geometry of the insert was changed in a way which has enlarged the surface area approximately 12% compared to regular insert named as nusselt insert. The idea applied in “nusselt insert” was the relation of increase in surface area to heat dissipation. Forced coolant application has become a way to improve existing metal cutting concepts and improve their current material removal rates without any need for a reengineered machining process. Experiments conducted on the inserts is that the first experiment of its kind in machining technology together with forced coolant and tested in four different inserts. The primary focus of the work was the investigation of the relation between the heat dissipation with an increase in surface area/mass ratio in the cutting interface based on its influence on tool wear. The experimental results showed the nusselt insert have better ability for heat dissipation which has led to significant reduce in tool wear and successfully facing Inconel 718 at vc 105 m/min, f 0.3 mm/rev and ap 1 mm where the regular insert had a catastrophic failure at vc 90 m/min, f 0.1 mm/rev and ap 1 mm. Nusselt insert has shown to increase MRR significantly compared to regular insert.

Abstract In the last decades machining methods have witnessed an advancement in both cutting tools and coolant/lubrication, sometimes in combination with high pressure jet. The aim of this work is to investigate a modified cutting insert with forced coolant application, FCA, how it influences the tool-chip contact in the secondary shear zone and how it affects the tool wear when turning Alloy 718. During the machining process the main and frequent problems are heat generation and friction in the cutting zone, which has a direct impact on the cutting tool life. High pressure jet cooling have headwayed the cutting technology for the last five decades, showing an improvment of tool life, reduced temperature in the cutting zone and better surface integrity of the workpiece. These developments have practically enhanced the capability and quality in machining of superalloys. This paper is an advancement of the previous work, increasing surface area of the insert, with a additional channel design to improve the coolant reachability in the tool-chip contact area on the rake face. The influence in tool wear has been investigated. Through a set of experiments, a channel design insert with forced coolant application, has shown about 24-33% decrease in tool wear compared to only a textured insert. Hybrid inserts with its cooling and channel features have even widened the operational cutting region with significantly less tool wear.

There has been extensive research on forced coolant application, usually known as high pressure coolant, in machining heat resistant super alloys. This technology has shown to improve the tool life, chip segmentation, surface integrity and reduce the temperature in the cutting zone. A number of studies have been done on hydraulic parameters of the coolant. This study has been focused on residues on the flank face of the insert and residual stress on the workpiece surface generated by regular and modified cutting inserts. To identify any residual elements, analysis were done by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, EDS, on regular as well as modified inserts in combination with forced coolant application on both rake and flank face. The investigations have shown that the temperature gradient in the insert has changed between the regular and modified cutting inserts and that the tool wear and surface roughness is significantly affected by the modified cutting tool.

Coolant supplied by high pressure into the cutting zone has shown the lower thermal loads on the tool when machining difficult-to-cut materials as the Alloy 718. In this study, we investigate how the combination of high-pressure cooling and tool-surface modifications can lead to further improvements regarding tool life. The general approach is to enhance the coolant-tool interaction by increasing the contact area. Therefore, we machined cooling features into flank and rake faces of commercially available cemented tungsten carbide inserts. In this way, the surface area was increased by similar to 12%. After the cutting tests, the tools were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Compared with conventional tools, the tool modifications reduced the flank wear by 45% for the investigated cutting parameters. Furthermore, we were able to significantly increase the cutting speed and feed rate without failure of the tool. The investigated surface modifications have great potential to enhance the productivity of metal cutting processes.