On the heat partition properties of (Ti, Al)N compared with TiN coating in high-speed machining

Heat flow into the cutting tool is one of the critical factors in metal cutting which can influence tool wear mechanisms, tool performance, and quality of the machined part, especially in high-speed machining. An investigation was undertaken to determine the fraction of heat that flows into the cutting tool for high-speed machining with coated tools. The cutting tests were performed over a wide range of cutting speeds during which the cutting temperatures were measured experimentally using an infrared thermal imaging camera. The sticking and sliding regions were established from an examination of the tool-chip contact region using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. In the finite element model, a non-uniform heat flux was applied to match the experimental data. The heat partition results show that the use of coatings (Ti, Al)N may be more advantageous in high-speed machining than TiN coatings are. © 2009 IMechE.