Investigation of Initial Wear Period of Differently Coated Carbide Cutting Tools

In this paper the results of experimental studies concerning the phenomenon of initial period of the wear of differently coated sintered carbide tools when dry orthogonal cutting of an AISI 321 austenitic stainless steel are presented. The motivation for this study results from the lack of technological guides concerning the optimal choice of coated cutting tools for machining of corrosion resistant austenitic stainless steels. A number of cutting tool inserts with the plane rake face made of a fine H10F sintered carbide substrate with specially deposited TiN, including TiCN, TiAlN, AlTiN and AlCrN single layers were used in wear tests. Both rake and flank faces of the cutting inserts were examined by optical and confocal microscopy after controlled tool wear. The possible wear mechanisms in terms of changes of the tool-chip contact were investigated.