ANALYSIS OF THE WEAR AND FAILURE MECHANISMS THAT DEVELOP IN HIGH-SPEED STEEL CIRCULAR-SAW BLADES WHEN MACHINING NICKEL-BASED ALLOYS

Nickel-based alloys can be machined using techniques similar to those employed to cut ferrous materials, however, additional requirements ar e imposed due to the poor machinability of these alloys. Through a ser ies of cutting tests, the authors have applied techniques to optimise the cutting conditions for high speed steel circular saw blades machin ing materials from three principal categories of nickel-based alloy. T he current paper considers the resultant wear mechanisms and the suita bility of these tools for this application. Cutting tests were underta ken in which Cupro 107, Inconel 600L(1) and Nimonic PK31(1) workpieces were machined over a range of cutting speeds and feeds to determine t he optimum cutting conditions. Test results showed considerable variat ion in blade performance when cutting these materials. These variation s were reflected in the rate of wear and the predominant wear mechanis ms associated with the machining of each material. Since both tool and material costs are high, identification of the dominant wear mechanis ms is of importance to both manufacturing engineer and end-user when a ssessing the suitability of using circular saw blades for this applica tion, and when selecting the cutting conditions to maximise tool life. The work will also be of interest to the surface coating engineer whe n evaluating tooth geometry and substrate material requirements.