Title: On measurements of tool edge geometry of diamond-coated tools

Authors: William R. White; Kevin Chou; Andrew R. Ogilvie

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Alabama, 290 Hardaway Hall, 7th Ave., Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Alabama, 290 Hardaway Hall, 7th Ave., Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. ' Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Alabama, 290 Hardaway Hall, 7th Ave., Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA

Abstract: In this study, a white-light interferometer (WLI) was used to acquire tool edge surface data, and MATLAB-based algorithms were developed to characterise the tool edge geometry. Commercial cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) cutting inserts with different edge radii were evaluated. In addition, the carbide tools were further subject to controlled diamond film depositions and then were evaluated again in the tool edge geometry to evaluate the coating thickness. The tool geometry and coating thickness will enable a quantitative model correlating the deposition stresses with the tool geometry edge. The major results are summarised as follows. 1) The combination of WLI and the developed algorithms is capable of efficient tool edge geometry measurements; 2) for the straight edges, the variations of edge radii among different tool samples in a single batch are reasonably small; 3) comparing coated and uncoated edge results, the coating thickness can be estimated. It is also noted that the coating is thicker at the rake and the edge than the flank faces; 4) tools with a large edge radius (> 50 µm) showed a greater variation in coating thickness estimates.

Keywords: cutting edge; edge radius; interferometry; tool edge geometry; diamond coated tools; cobalt; cemented tungsten carbide; WC-Co cutting inserts; coating thickness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2012.049260

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2012 Vol.12 No.3, pp.280 - 296

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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