Tool wear and surface integrity during high-speed turning of hardened steel with polycrystalline cubic boron nitride tools

This paper examines the tool wear characteristics and surface integrity dur ing high-speed turning of D2 tool steel. The effects of different process p arameters, including tool wear and edge preparation, on the surface and sub surface damage were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Mo des of tool wear were investigated under different cutting conditions. The Xray diffraction technique was also employed to measure the residual stress distributions beneath the machined surface. Various forms of surface damag e were observed under different cutting conditions. A wide range of residua l stress distributions beneath the machined surface were obtained depending on the cutting conditions and edge preparation. The unfavourable tensile r esidual stresses were minimized at high cutting speeds and high depths of c ut. This reveals the possibility of optimizing the cutting conditions for f avourable residual stresses.