An AISI 4340 Steel (325 BHN) was machined at various speeds up to 2500 m/min (8000 SFPM). Longitudinal midsections of the chips were examined metallurgically to delineate the differences in the chip formation characteristics at various speeds. Chips were found to be continuous at 30 to 60 m/min (100 to 200 SFPM) but discontinuous below this speed. Instabilities in the cutting process, leading to different types of cyclic chip formations, were observed at cutting speeds above 60 m/min (200 SFPM). Fully developed catastrophic shear bands separated by large areas (segments) of relatively less deformed material, similar to that when machining titanium alloys, were observed in the chips at cutting speeds above 275 m/min (800 SFPM). The intense shear bands between the segments appeared to have formed subsequent to the localized intense deformation of the segment in the primary shear zone. As the cutting speed increases, the extent of contact between the segments is found to decrease rapidly. At speeds of 1000 m/min (3200 SFPM) and above, due to rapid intense, localized shear between the segments, these segments were found to separate completely as isolated segments instead of being held intact as a long chip. The speed at which this decohesion occurs was found to depend upon the metallurgical state of the steel machined and its hardness. As in the case of machining titanium alloys, the deformation of the chip as it slides on the tool face, i.e., “secondary shear zone,” appeared to be negligible when machining this AISI 4340 steel at high speed. Based on the metallurgical study of the chip and the similarities of machining this material at high speed and that of titanium alloys at normal speed, a cyclic phenomenon in the primary shear zone is identified as the source of instability responsible for the large-scale heterogeneity and a mechanism of chip formation when machining AISI 4340 steel at high speed is proposed.
The deformation in chips produced in machining a nickel-iron base superalloy (Inconel 718), at various speeds up to 213.5 m/min [700 surface feet per minute (SFPM)] has been investigated. In addition to slip, considerable twinning in the chips is observed at all speeds. Up to a cutting speed of about 30.5 m/min (100 SFPM), the chips formed are essentially continuous and ribbon-like, although deformation in the chip is inhomogeneous. At cutting speeds above 61 m/min (200 SFPM), shear-localized chips form. The longitudinal midsections of the chips show gross inhomogeneous deformation with shear localization between any two segments, and relatively low deformation within any individual segment. With an increase in speed the extent of contact between segments decreases rapidly, until a speed is reached where the individual segments become completely detached. The speed at which this occurs for other difficult-to-machine materials, such as AISI 4340, was found in an earlier study, to depend upon the metallurgical condition of the material and its hardness. Based on this study, the mechanism of chip formation when machining Inconel 718 is very similar to that reported earlier for machining both titanium alloys and hardened AISI 4340 steels at higher speeds. While the hcp crystal structure of titanium alloys in addition to titanium’s poor thermal properties (kρc) is believed to be partly responsible for the intense shear localization in that material, results with Inconel 718 (fcc) and AISI 4340 steel (bcc) indicate that the effect of structure on shear localization is not yet well understood.
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