Wear Mechanism of Cemented Carbide Tool and Modeling Tool Wear in Machining Inconel 718

Abstract When machining Inconel 718, tool wear is a serious problem, which affects the quality of workpiece. In order to analyze the wear mechanism in dry machining Inconel 718 with cemented carbide tool, the wear morphology of tool was observed by CCD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer in this paper. The results showed that at low cutting speed, the formation and shedding of the built-up-edge caused severe cutting tool breakage. When the cutting speed reached 40 m/min, the tool material fell off from the tool substrate in the form of wear debris, which was the main reason for tool wear. In addition, the elements diffusion between the tool and the workpiece and oxidation reaction accelerated the formation and falling off of wear debris. According to the tool wear mechanism, a tool wear prediction model was established. In machining Inconel 718, the excellent experimental agreement have been obtained in the prediction of wear in cemented carbide tool.