Machining of Advanced Cutting Materials: Fundamentals, Modeling and Applications

The work is focused on the combined process of obtaining bimetallic parts that involve laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) additive technology and the conventional casting process. In this research, molybdenum powder was deposited by LDED on a cast 25L steel substrate. The choice of materials is motivated by demands for replacing the traditional technique of brazing molybdenum with a copper interlayer on low-carbon steel to eliminate shortcomings. The influence of powder particle morphology on the quality of deposited layers was studied. Spherical molybdenum powder PMS-M99.9 facilitated stable deposition of good layers and was found to be suitable for the LDED. Quality diagnostics were performed by studying microstructure, hardness, and wear resistance properties. Preferential parameters of the LDED of molybdenum were found through parametrical analysis. Microstructural studies showed that LDED of PMS-M99.9 powder results in a homogeneous stable layer with a strong bond to the steel substrate, which was confirmed by mutual diffusion of Mo and Fe in the boundary. It is also demonstrated that the found working parameters of LDED assure high hardness, wear, and fretting wear resistance. The three studied coatings (LDED of powders PMS-M99.9 and PM-M; VM1 brazing) had the same friction coefficient value of ~0.25. Compared to others, PMS-M99.9 coating had the lowest volumetric wear, while abrasive wear was measured to be the highest. Full article

The possibility of using an aqueous non-toxic electrolyte of ammonium nitrate and glycerin for the cathodic plasma electrolytic nitrocarburizing of low-carbon steel is considered in this paper. Surface morphology and roughness, element and phase compositions, and microhardness of the modified layer were investigated. Kinetic calculations of the processes of nitrogen and carbon diffusion into the steel surface are proposed, taking into account their mutual influence. Wear resistance was studied under dry friction conditions with tool alloy steel as a counter-body. Corrosion studies are performed using potentiodynamic polarization curves in 3.5% sodium chloride solution. The plasma electrolytic nitrocarburizing in an aqueous electrolyte with ammonium nitrate and glycerin is established to increase surface hardness up to 980 HV due to the formation of a nitrocarburized layer with 1.35 ± 0.12% carbon and 0.32 ± 0.08% nitrogen concentration. The influence of erosion in electrolyte plasma and high-temperature oxidation on the morphology and surface roughness is shown. The presence of a dense oxide layer, low surface roughness, and high hardness of the diffusion layer favor a decrease in the friction coefficient by 1.3 times, weight wear by 1.8 times and corrosion current density by 1.4 times. Full article

Aluminum-based ceramics exhibit excellent wear resistance and hot hardness that are suitable for various responsible applications allowing products to work under extreme mechanical and thermal loads (up to 1000 °C). The problem of high-precision forming complex-shaped parts is a known engineering challenge due to the insulating properties of aluminum-containing ceramics and the formation of chemically active carbides in a hydrocarbon medium. The alternative approach for electrical discharge machining non-conductive sintered Al₂O₃ in the water-based medium using nickel-chrome plasma-vapor-deposed coating of 12 mm, SnO powder suspension (particle diameter of ⌀10 µm, concentration of 150 g/L), and brass wire-tool is proposed. The productivity was evaluated by calculating the material removal rate and discharge gap for various combinations of pulse frequency and duration. The maximal material removal rate of 0.0014 mm³/s was achieved for a pulse frequency of 30 kHz and pulse duration of 1.7–2.5 μs. The recommended value of the interelectrode gap is 48.0 ± 4.9 µm. The possibility of electrical discharge machining aluminum-containing insulating ceramics without using hydrocarbons, carbon and copper-group assisting measures was proposed and shown for the first time. The chemical content of the debris in the interelectrode gap between components of the materials was thermochemically analyzed. Full article

The paper considers the problem of increasing the wear resistance of steel products. For the first time, the technology of anodic plasma electrolytic sulfiding is proposed to increase the wear resistance of low-carbon steel. The composition, structure, and frictional properties of modified surface layers after sulfiding have been studied. The type and mechanism of wear are determined. The influence of the sliding speed of the sample over the counter body on the friction and wear resistance of the samples after processing is analyzed. The possibility of saturation of low-carbon steel with sulfur in an electrolyte with sulfur compounds is shown. The iron sulfide FeS in the surface layer is found. It has been established that the thickness of the sulfide zone and the relative amount of FeS in it have a positive effect on reducing the coefficient of friction and mass wear. The greatest decrease in the friction coefficient by 5.5 times and weight wear by 64 times occurs after sulfiding at 500 °C for 10 min. It was found that the mechanism of wear of sulfided samples is fatigue wear during dry friction and plastic contact. Full article

The article focuses on the possibility of manufacturing bimetallic products for specific industrial applications using laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) additive technology to replace the traditional brazing process. Preferential process regimes were determined by parametric analysis for the nickel-alloy–steel and molybdenum–steel pairs. Comparative studies of the microstructure and hardness of the deposited layers and the transition layer at the boundary of the alloyed materials have been carried out. It is shown that LDED provides better transition layer and operational properties of the final part since the low-melting copper layer is no longer needed. A combined technological process has been developed, which consists in combining the traditional method of manufacturing a workpiece through the casting and deposition of a molybdenum layer by LDED. Full article

Multicomponent aluminum-based alloys doped with chromium (Cr) and molybdenum (Mo), fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS), derived from a powder mixture prepared by mechanical alloying, were studied in this work. The morphology of the pristine and worn surfaces was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy system. The obtained alloys exhibited higher hardness (73 and 72) for the Al–Mo and Al–Cr alloys, respectively, compared to reference bronze. Besides improved hardness, SPS-sintered alloys also showed a lower value of the weight and linear wear and the highest score-resistance compared to bronze. The enhanced tribological behavior is related to the formation of secondary structures on the friction surfaces of rubbing pairs, which in turn reduce wear. For the first time, the present research has demonstrated the effectiveness of the addition of Mo and Cr for the fabrication of sintered multicomponent Al-based alloys with a tailored microstructure that induces the formation of secondary structures on the tribosurfaces due to the self-organization processes during friction. Full article

The field of applied wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is rapidly expanding due to rapidly increasing demand for parts made of hard-to-machine materials. Hard alloys composed of WC, TiC and Co are advanced cutting materials widely used in industry due to the excellent combination of hardness and toughness, providing them obvious advantages over other cutting materials, such as cubic boron nitride, ceramics, diamond or high-speed steel. A rational choice of the WEDM modes is extremely important to ensure the dimensional quality of the manufactured cutting inserts, while roughness of the machined surface on the cutting edge is of great importance with regards to the application of wear-resistant coatings, which increases tool life. However, the stock control systems of CNC WEDM machines, which are based on assessment of electrical parameters such as amperage and voltage, are unable to timely detect conditions at which a threat of wire breakage appears and to prevent wire breakage by stopping the electrode feed and flushing out the interelectrode gap (IEG) when hard alloys with high heat resistance and low heat conductivity, such as WC, TiC and Co composites, are being machined, due to the inability to distinguish the working pulses and pulses that expend a part of their energy heating and removing electroerosion products contaminating the working zone. In this paper, the physicomechanical nature of the WEDM of hard alloy WC 88% + TiC 6% + Co 6% was investigated, and the possibility of using acoustic emission parameters for controlling WEDM stability and productivity were explored. Acoustic emission (AE) signals were recorded in octave bands with central frequencies of 1–3 and 10–20 kHz. It was found that at the initial moment, when the dielectric fluid is virtually free of contaminants, the amplitude of the high-frequency component of the VA signal has its highest value. However, as the contamination of the working zone by electroerosion products increases, the amplitude of the high-frequency component of the AE signal decreases while the low-frequency component increases in an octave of 1–3 kHz. By the time of the wire breakage, the amplitude of the high-frequency component in the octave of 10–20 kHz had reduced by more than 5-fold, the amplitude of the low-frequency component in the octave of 1–3 kHz had increased by more than 2-fold, and their ratio, coefficient Kf, decreased by 12-fold. To evaluate the efficiency of Kf as a diagnostic parameter, the quality of the surface being machined was investigated. The analysis of residual irregularities on the surface at the electrode breakage point showed the presence of deep cracks and craters typical of short-circuit machining. It was also found that the workpiece surface was full of deposits/sticks, whose chemical composition was identical to that of the wire material. The presence of the deposits evidenced heating and melting of the wire due to the increased concentration of contaminants causing short circuits. It was also shown that the wire breakage was accompanied by the “neck” formation, which indicated simultaneous impacts of the local heating of the wire material and tensile forces. Due to the elevated temperature, the mechanical properties the wire material are quickly declining, a “neck” is being formed, and, finally, the wire breaks. At the wire breakage point, sticks/deposits of the workpiece material and electroerosion products were clearly visible, which evidenced a partial loss of the pulses’ energy on heating the electroerosion products and electrodes. A further increase in the contamination level led to short circuits and subsequent breakage of the wire electrode. It was shown that in contrast to the conventional controlling scheme, which is based on the assessment of amperage and voltage only, the analysis of VA signals clearly indicates the risk of wire breakage due to contamination of the working zone, discharge localization and subsequent short circuits. The monotonic dependence of WEDM productivity on AE parameters provides the possibility of adaptive adjustment of the wire electrode feed rate to the highest WEDM productivity at a given contamination level. As the concentration of contaminants increases, the feed rate of the wire electrode should decrease until the critical value of the diagnostic parameter Kf, at which the feed stops and the IEG flushes out, is reached. The link between the AE signals and physicomechanical nature of the WEDM of advanced cutting materials with high heat resistance and low heat conductivity in different cutting modes clearly shows that the monitoring of AE signals can be used as a main or supplementary component of control systems for CNC WEDM machines. Full article

The structure and physical–mechanical properties of products made from powders of corrosion-resistant steel 12X18H10T by the laser-beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF) and subsequent ion-plasma nitriding in the work were investigated. Comparative studies of the physical mechanical properties of specimens made by the LB-PBF and conventional method from steel of the same grade were carried out. The density of the specimens and the coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE) after the LB-PBF are almost the same as those of the conventionally manufactured specimens. Our analysis of the obtained dilatograms in the temperature range from 20 to 600 °C showed that the CLTE of steel after the LB-PBF is within acceptable limits (18.6 × 10⁻⁶ 1/°C). Their hardness, tensile strength, yield strength and elongation are higher than those of a conventionally manufactured specimen. The phase composition and structure of specimens of steel 12X18H10T made by the LB-PBF after the process of ion-plasma nitriding were investigated. The obtained results show that the mode of ion-plasma nitriding used in this case (stage 1—570 °C for 36 h; stage 2—540 °C for 12 h) does not lead to deterioration of the characteristics of the selected steel. A technological process for the manufacture of modified tooling from 12X18H10T steel by the LB-PBF was developed. It protects the surfaces that are not subject to nitriding and makes it possible to obtain a uniform high-quality nitrided layer on the working surface of the part made from spheroidal graphite iron. Full article

A feature of radiation-beam technologies is similar processes associated with phase transformations and chemical reactions that cause changes in the volume of matter, accompanied by the vibroacoustic energy release distributed through the equipment flexible system in a wide frequency range (up to 40 kHz and high for 150 ms). The vibroacoustic signal amplitude accompanying radiation-beam technologies depends on the power density and process performance. The accelerated growth of the high-frequency components of the vibroacoustic signal is associated with the activation of the processes of volumetric boiling and evaporation/sublimation of the material. The K_f parameter, introduced as the ratio of the effective amplitudes of the low-frequency and high-frequency ranges of the vibroacoustic signal, monitors the results of high-energy flows’ impact on the material in the direction of vaporization/sublimation. The K_f parameter decrease tendency shows an increase in the proportion of the substance evaporated during laser treatment. The K_f parameter control allows the indication of the short-circuit approach in electric discharge machining, which allows increased productivity and reliability of processing. The monitoring of the K_f parameter helps to select rational processing modes, preventing excessive evaporation, providing the necessary intensity of the impact power to trigger the necessary chemical reactions in surface electron-beam alloying. Full article

The material removal mechanism, submicrostructure of surface and subsurface layers, nanotransformations occurred in surface and subsurface layers during electrical discharge machining two structural materials such as anti-corrosion X10CrNiTi18-10 (12kH18N10T) steel of austenite class and 2024 (D16) duralumin in a deionized water medium were researched. The machining was conducted using a brass tool of 0.25 mm in diameter. The measured discharge gap is 45–60 µm for X10CrNiTi18-10 (12kH18N10T) steel and 105–120 µm for 2024 (D16) duralumin. Surface roughness parameters are arithmetic mean deviation (R_a) of 4.61 µm, 10-point height (R_z) of 28.73 µm, maximum peak-to-valley height (R_tm) of 29.50 µm, mean spacing between peaks (S_m) of 18.0 µm for steel; R_a of 5.41 µm, R_z of 35.29 µm, R_tm of 43.17 µm, S_m of 30.0 µm for duralumin. The recast layer with adsorbed components of the wire tool electrode and carbides was observed up to the depth of 4–6 µm for steel and 2.5–4 µm for duralumin. The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was used to mathematically interpolate the dependence of the interelectrode gap on the electrical resistance of the material. The observed microstructures provide grounding on the nature of electrical wear and nanomodification of the obtained surfaces. Full article

Small-size cutting inserts for assembly cutters are widely used to manufacture a variety of parts for the aerospace, automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Due to their high hardness and chemical stability, cutting Al₂O₃-TiC ceramics significantly outperform hard alloys in machining heat-resistant and difficult-to-machine materials. However, grinding on CNC machines, the most common technology for manufacturing ceramic inserts, is associated with numerous issues when it comes to manufacturing small-size cutting inserts. For example, high cutting forces and high grinding wheel wear rates cause a rapid loss of dimensional accuracy and deterioration of the quality of the surface being machined, while the interference of the grinding wheel with the surface being treated imposes serious limitations on the geometry of the small-size ceramic inserts to be grinded. Here we show that Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM), which is a contactless and, thus, a more flexible method in terms of the size and geometrical properties of a workpiece to be machined, can be used as a replacement for grinding operations in machining small ceramic inserts. A composite of 70% aluminum oxide and 30% titanium carbide was chosen as a ceramic material because a further increase in the TiC fraction causes a marked decrease in wear resistance, while its decrease results in an undesirable loss of electrical conductivity. While in order to replace grinding with WEDM, WEDM has to be stable in the sense of occurring without frequent wire breakages, achieving WEDM stability is not an easy task due to the low electrical conductivity of Al₂O₃-TiC ceramics and high operational temperatures, which promote the diffusion of dielectric and electrode products in the surface layer of the cutting inserts being machined. These factors may lower the quality of the final product due to damage to the insert surface, marked increases in the roughness RA and in diffusion in the surface layer, which increases the friction coefficient and, hence, reduces the life of the manufactured cutting inserts. We have increased stability of the WEDM process by identifying and applying rational process conditions that lead to a reduced, by a factor of 2.63, roughness Ra and also a reduced, by a factor of 1.3, depth of craters. Performing a chemical and structural analysis, we found that the application of high energies combined with an increasing interelectrode gap (IG) (technological parameter SSol, a complex indicator that determines the speed of the wire electrode depending on the number of pulses per unit of time and the IG size, is set at 80, EDM3 technology) causes increased surface damage and contamination, while a small IG (SSol = 45, EDM1 technology) reduces the material removal rate due to contamination of the working zone between the surface being machined and the electrodes. After reducing the IG by lowering SSol from 80 to 45, the roughness Ra of 0.344 µm was achieved, which allows for replacing grinding operations with WEDM in machining hardening chamfers, front surfaces and, to a lesser degree, the rear and support surfaces of cutting inserts. In this case, when the IG is reduced to SSol = 45, the electroerosion products in the dielectric promote local breakdowns, which in turn produce a large number of deep craters which adversely affect the performance of cutting inserts. However, we found that a slight increase in SSol from 45 to 55 (EDM3 technology) significantly reduces the number of craters and lowers their depth from 50 μm to 37 μm. Although in this case the roughness grows to 0.534 μm due to increased discharge energy, the improved flushing of the IG and the reduced occurrence of local high-temperature breakdowns—evidenced by a decrease in the depth and number of deep craters formed due to current localization during short circuits—significantly reduced contamination of the surface layer and the crater formation rate. Therefore, WEDM can be recommended for use in machining reinforcing chamfers and, to a lesser degree, front surfaces. These considerations lead us to conclude that WEDM is a viable alternative to grinding in machining Al₂O₃-TiC ceramic cutting inserts of a small size and a complex shape, and that its application to manufacturing cutting inserts from poorly conductive cutting ceramics should be studied further. Full article

Nickel-based superalloys are attractive to many industrial sectors (automotive, military, energy, aerospace, etc.). However, their physical properties make them difficult to machining using traditional tools. Therefore, new materials for the machining of Ni-based alloys are required. Ceramic-based composites could act as a tool to replace the current materials. The incentives for this paper are to provide an overview of existing ceramic composites and draw some conclusions that will help in solving the problem of choosing materials for the processing of Ni-based superalloys. Despite the diversity of ceramic composites in this work, the possibility of using the SiAlON ceramic for Ni-based alloy machining is highlighted. Full article