Title: Improvement of machinability in end milling of Nimonic C-263 by application of high pressure coolant

Authors: Bikramjit Podder; S. Paul

Addresses: Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad 500058, Andhra Pradesh, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of machining environments, conventional wet, liquid nitrogen (LN2) and high pressure (HP) cooling on tool performance when machining nickel-based, Nimonic C-263, alloy with dual layer coated (TiN/TiAlN) carbide insert under different cutting speed and feed conditions. Tool life, tool failure modes, surface integrity and surface finish generated during end milling were recorded and analysed. Analysis of the test results shows that high pressure (50 bar) cooling gave the best result compared to other two machining environments in terms of tool life. Tool life improvement of as high as 133% was recorded under high pressure cooling compared to conventional wet. LN2 cooling gave worst results among all three cutting environments, due to increased thermal fluctuation during machining. Chipping was found to be the dominating tool failure mode in all the cases. Plastic deformation of the machined surface was evident with increase in tool wear.

Keywords: Nimonic C-263; end milling; tool life; conventional wet cooling; cryogenic cooling; high pressure cooling; surface finish; surface integrity; liquid nitrogen; tool performance; nickel alloys; coated carbide inserts; cutting speed; feed; tool failure; thermal fluctuation; temperature fluctuation; chipping; plastic deformation; tool wear.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2012.047837

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2012 Vol.11 No.4, pp.418 - 433

Received: 30 Aug 2010
Accepted: 22 Apr 2011
Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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