Title: Experimental investigation of the tool wear in micro-milling of stainless steel 316

Authors: Xinyu Liu; Shreyas Shashidhara

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX, USA ' Enerflex Ltd., 10815 Telge Road, Houston, Texas, 77095, USA

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to experimentally investigate the micro-machinability of stainless steel 316 under both dry and minimum quantity lubrication conditions. The machinability was assessed in terms of tool wear, tool life, cutting forces and surface finish. The tool life was characterised as the amount of material removed, instead of the conventional cutting times. The machining performance under MQL is superior to the dry machining for both process conditions in terms of the tool life. The magnitude of the machining forces showed cyclic pattern for both MQL and dry machining. The SEM images and the cutting force signals suggested that the dominant mode of the tool wear in micro-milling is edge chipping and abrasive wear at the tool tip. The surface roughness at the bottom of the slots improved significantly with the application of MQL for all levels of the tool wear.

Keywords: micromilling; tool life; minimum quantity lubrication; MQL; cutting force; surface roughness; stainless steel 316; machinability; edge chipping; abrasive wear; surface quality; tool wear; micromachining; dry machining; surface finish; edge chipping; abrasive wear.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMS.2016.076170

International Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems, 2016 Vol.9 No.2, pp.122 - 136

Received: 14 May 2015
Accepted: 30 Nov 2015

Published online: 27 Apr 2016 *

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