An investigation of the influence of sulphide inclusions on tool-wear in high speed milling of tool steels

Experimental results have shown that the machinability of tool steels, in t erm of tool-life, is increased with sulphides addition. It seems that this increase depends on cutting speed, probably due to the existence of an adhe rent layer of manganese sulphides (MnS) frequently observed in turning. Pre vious studies on the same materials have shown that at high cutting speeds, the action of sulphur disappears. The choice of the best cutting parameter s is presented in detail according to the tool-work material pair method. E xperimental design has been used to determine the tool-wear rate and to dis cuss the effect of each influencing factor and interaction. During the prog ressive tool-wear, rake face investigations to study the influence of sulph ide inclusions have been performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.