Su Honghua

Grindability and Surface Integrity of Cast Nickel-based Superalloy in Creep Feed Grinding with Brazed CBN Abrasive Wheels

The technique of creep feed grinding is most suitable for geometrical shaping, and therefore has been expected to improve effectively material removal rate and surface quality of components with complex profile. This article studies experimentally the effects of process parameters (i.e. wheel speed, workpiece speed and depth of cut) on the grindability and surface integrity of cast nickel-based superalloys, i.e. K424, during creep feed grinding with brazed cubic boron nitride (CBN) abrasive wheels. Some important factors, such as grinding force and temperature, specific grinding energy, size stability, surface topography, microhardness and microstructure alteration of the sub-surface, residual stresses, are investigated in detail. The results show that during creep feed grinding with brazed CBN wheels, low grinding temperature at about 100 °C is obtained though the specific grinding energy of nickel-based superalloys is high up to 200-300 J/mm3. A combination of wheel speed 22.5 m/s, workpiece speed 0.1 m/min, depth of cut 0.2 mm accomplishes the straight grooves with the expected dimensional accuracy. Moreover, the compressive residual stresses are formed in the burn-free and crack-free ground surface.

Tool Life and Surface Integrity in High-speed Milling of Titanium Alloy TA15 with PCD/PCBN Tools

Abstract Titanium alloys are widely used in aeronautics that demand a good combination of high strength, good corrosion resistance and low mass. The mechanical properties lead to challenges in machining operations such as high process temperature as well as rapidly increasing tool wear. The conventional tool materials are not able to maintain their hardness and other mechanical properties at higher cutting temperatures encountered in high speed machining. In this work, the new material tools, which are polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tools, are used in high-speed milling of Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V (TA15) alloy. The performance and wear mechanism of the tools are investigated. Compared to PCBN tool, PCD tool has a much longer tool life, especially at higher cutting speeds. Analyses based on the SEM and EDX suggest that attrition, adhesion and diffusion are the main wear mechanisms of PCD and PCBN tools in high-speed milling of TA15. Oxidation wear is also observed at PCBN tool/workpiece interface. Roughness, defects, micro-hardness and microstructure of the machined surface are investigated. The recorded surface roughness values with PCD/PCBN tools are bellow 0.3 μm at initial and steady cutting stage. Micro-hardness analysis shows that the machined surface hardening depth with PCD and PCBN tools is small. There is no evidence of sub-surface defects with PCD and PCBN tools. It is concluded that for TA15 alloy, high-speed milling can be carried out with PCD/PCBN tools.