3.1 Tool wear form
In Fig. 3, the wear form of the rake face under dry cutting was shown, and the overall wear was serious. Due to the high cutting temperature and poor lubrication conditions, the coating of the main cutting edge was peeled off seriously, and micro-chipping occured in the fillet area of the tool tip. As seen in Fig. 4, the wear form of rake face under wet cutting cooling was normal wear of cutting edge and peeling of the coating. This benefited from the low temperature and favorable lubrication of the cutting area.
Figures 5-7 showed the wear form of rake face under cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL experiments when oil flow was kept unchanged at 60 ml/h and cryogenic CO2 temperature was set to -10℃, -30℃ and -50℃. As shown in Fig. 5, the main cutting edge of the tool under -10 ℃ had a large area of chipping, and the coating of the minor cutting edge peeled off seriously. Figure 6 clearly showed that the micro-chipping and crater wear appeared on the main cutting edge of the tool under -30℃, and the serious coating material damage appeared in the fillet area of the tool tip. In addition, when the CO2 temperature was -50℃, the main cutting edge of the tool was in good condition and the coating was worn evenly, as shown in Fig. 7. It can be found that the tool wear decreases gradually with the decrease of cryogenic CO2 temperature when comparing the tool wear forms of three experimental groups. When the cryogenic CO2 temperature was -50℃, the tool wear was lighter than that of -10℃ and -30℃. The reason is that after the temperature is reduced, the cryogenic CO2 carrier can make the oil mist reach the cutting area stably, which can make the lubrication conditions well. In addition, when the cryogenic CO2 temperature was -50℃, the cooling effect was favorable. The wear form of the rake face under -10℃ and -30℃ was more serious than that during dry cutting, because the lubricating oil cannot get into the cutting area steadily which results in instability of the cutting state and serious tool wear, and the cooling effect was unfavorable.
Figures 7-10 showed the wear form of rake faces under cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL experiments when cryogenic CO2 temperature was kept unchanged at -50℃ and oil flow was set to 0 ml/h, 40 ml/h, 60 ml/h and 80 ml/h. As seen in Fig. 8, the crater wear and coating peeling appeared on the main cutting edge of the tool when the oil flow was 0 ml/h. In addition, the local coating peeling occurred on the minor cutting edge. As illustrated in Fig. 9, although the tool crater wear was reduced, the coating peeling was still uneven and also occurred on the minor cutting edge. However, when the oil flow is 60 ml/h, the main cutting edge was worn evenly without abnormal wear, as shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 8, the wear form of the rake face when oil flow was 80 ml/h was shown. Although the wear of the main cutting edge was uniform, the coating peeling was more serious than that when oil flow was 60 ml/h and the small range of coating peeling occurred on the minor cutting edge. Compared with the tool wear forms of the four experiment groups, the tool wear was generally reduced with the increase of minimum quantity lubrication oil flow. The main reason for the improvement of tool wear was that the lubrication conditions in the cutting area become better with the increase in oil flow. Thus, the friction between the tool and workpiece or chip was reduced, and the tool wear was improved. However, when the lubricating oil flow was too large, the particles of oil mist will increase, making it more difficult for oil mist to enter the cutting area. Consequently, the lubrication effect decreased and the tool wear increased.
Based on the above analysis, it indicates that the experimental group which oil flow is 60 ml/h and the cryogenic CO2 temperature is -50℃ has the lightest tool wear and the experimental parameters are optimal.
3.2 Tool wear mechanism
3.2.1 Adhesive wear
Figures 11-13 showed the comparison diagram of the rake face before and after tool etching in the experiments of dry cutting, wet cutting, and the optimal parameter array of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL. Through the comparison, the chip adhesion and adhesive wear area can be clearly seen. In the cutting process, the high cutting temperature and high pressure will be produced in the tool-chip contact area zone, resulting in cold welding, which makes the workpiece material easy to bond to the cutting edge of the tool[31,32]. The adhesion workpiece material fell off under intermittent mechanical impact load during the high-speed milling, and the coating material will be taken away, which results in adhesive wear on the tool surface. With the progress of cutting, the bonding and peeling process of workpiece materials were repeated, resulting in the aggravation of adhesive wear.
As shown in Fig. 11, the adhesive wear of the tool during dry cutting was serious on the main cutting edge and the fillet area of the tool tip, and also occurred on the minor cutting edge. In addition, the damage caused by bonding and tearing on the fillet area of the tool tip was also shown in Fig. 11. This was mainly due to the poor cooling and lubrication condition, which leads to the high temperature under alternating mechanical stress and thermal stress. In this case, the bonding of workpiece material was more serious under high temperature and pressure, and the adhesion layer was easier to fall off during processing due to the high friction in the tool-chip contact area, resulting in serious adhesive wear. As seen in Fig. 12, the adhesive wear of the tool was relatively light under wet cutting cooling and the chip adhesive area was small and mainly occurred on the main cutting edge. This benefitted from the favorable cooling and lubrication condition, and the low temperature and friction in the tool-chip contact area zone.
Figure 13 showed the tool adhesive wear of the optimal parameter array (oil flow 60 ml/h, CO2 temperature -50℃), it can be found that the chip adhesive area was small and mainly occurred on the main cutting edge. The area and degree of adhesive wear was better than that of dry cutting tool, and more uniform than that of wet cutting tool. The reason was that the extremely low temperature and the phase transformation of liquid CO2 when it reached the tool-chip contact area zone can effectively reduce the cutting temperature, maintain the hardness of tool surface, and reduce the impact of the adhesive layer falling off on the tool coating. In addition, under the protection of cryogenic CO2 at temperature -50℃, the lubricating oil mist can stably and effectively enter the tool-chip contact area zone, which can reduce the cutting force and the adhesive wear of the tool.
3.2.2 Diffusion wear
The tool and the workpiece are always in contact during the cutting process, and some alloy elements in the workpiece material diffuse into the tool under the action of high temperature. At the same time, some elements in the tool material will also diffuse into the workpiece material to form mutual diffusion[33,34]. The diffusion behavior of elements can be described by Fick's law, as shown in Eqs. (1)-(2). This mutual diffusion will reduce the strength of the tool to a certain extent and accelerate the wear of the tool[32]. However, the tool temperature is relatively not large because of the intermittent contact of milling[35], and the cutting time is relatively short in this experiment, so the element diffusion mainly occurs on the tool surface.
Where is the flux, ,, are diffusion coefficient, concentration of diffusing species and time.
Figure 14 showed the energy spectrum analysis of the main cutting edge in the experimental group of dry cutting, wet cutting, and optimal parameters experimental group (oil flow 60 ml/h, CO2, temperature -50℃). It can be seen from the figure that in addition to the elements C, N, Al, Ti, and W contained in the tool itself, there were also alloy elements such as Fe, Cr, Ni and Si contained in the workpiece material, which showed that the alloy elements in the workpiece material diffuse into the tool. The Fe, Ni, and Co were the congeners, and the diffusion of Ni, Fe, and Cr from the workpiece to the tool was because of the affinity for Co[36,37]. Figure 15 showed the mass percentage of Fe and Cr elements in the local area of the main cutting edge in 8 groups of experiments. It can be found from Fig. 15 that during dry cutting, due to poor cooling and lubrication, the diffusion of Fe and Cr elements was more serious, and the wet cutting experimental group had a better effect in controlling diffusion wear. In addition, the diffusion law of Fe and Cr in other groups was not obvious, and there was a certain element diffusion. Figure 16 was the element distribution diagram of two typical elements Fe and Cr diffused from the workpiece material to the tool. It can be found that the alloy elements such as Fe and Cr diffused from the workpiece material to the tool were relatively enriched in the wear area, indicating that the diffusion wear mainly occurred in the contact and wear area between the tool and the workpiece. There was little difference in the diffusion distribution of elements in the three groups of experiments, and the main difference was still in proportion. Due to the diffusion of elements in the workpiece material, the surface strength of the tool was reduced. In the cutting process, the tool surface with reduced strength was gradually worn, resulting in repeated element diffusion and wear.
3.2.3 Oxidation wear
Oxidation wear refers to the chemical reaction between some elements in the tool material and oxygen in the air under the high temperature in the cutting area, resulting in oxides with low strength and hardness. With the progress of cutting, these oxides are taken away by the workpiece and chips, forming wear on the tool surface[38,39]. The mass percentage of the O element on the rake face of the tool in 8 groups of experiments were shown in Fig. 17. It can be found that the mass percentage of the O element was large, indicating that the tool surface was oxidized during cutting. Figure 18 showed the distribution of the O element, it can be seen that the O element was relatively enriched on the tool wear area. By analyzing the mass percentage and distribution of the O element, it can be seen obviously that the optimal parameter array of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL had the best effect on the control of tool oxidation wear. The Co element and WC in the tool substrate material and Ti and Al element in the tool coating reacted with oxygen in the high temperature condition[40]. This oxide was the mixture of Al2O3, titanium dioxide, and others, which made the tool wear more serious in the process of repeated oxidation and wear.
3.2.3 Oxidation wear
Oxidation wear refers to the chemical reaction between some elements in the tool material and oxygen in the air under the high temperature in the cutting area, resulting in oxides with low strength and hardness. With the progress of cutting, these oxides are taken away by the workpiece and chips, forming wear on the tool surface[38,39]. The mass percentage of the O element on the rake face of the tool in 8 groups of experiments were shown in Fig. 17. It can be found that the mass percentage of the O element was large, indicating that the tool surface was oxidized during cutting. Figure 18 showed the distribution of the O element, it can be seen that the O element was relatively enriched on the tool wear area. By analyzing the mass percentage and distribution of the O element, it can be seen obviously that the optimal parameter array of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL had the best effect on the control of tool oxidation wear. The Co element and WC in the tool substrate material and Ti and Al element in the tool coating reacted with oxygen in the high temperature condition[40]. This oxide was the mixture of Al2O3, titanium dioxide, and others, which made the tool wear more serious in the process of repeated oxidation and wear.
As shown in Fig. 23, the serrated degree and frequency of dry cutting, wet cutting, and the optimal parameter array were compared. It can be clearly seen that the serrated degree at 5mm and 10mm of the optimal parameter array was the largest, the sawtooth generation frequency of the optimal parameter array was similar to that of the wet cutting and far lower than that of dry cutting at 5mm, and it was the lowest at 10mm. The reason was that the excellent cooling and lubrication conditions make the lower temperature of the cutting area, which led to less plastic deformation region and more fracture region, and resulted in high serrated degree and low frequency[41,44]. And the cutting process was relatively stable [45].
Table 5
Analysis table of serrated degree at 5mm
Experience group
|
Average sawtooth spacing
(mm)
|
Average addendum height(mm)
|
Average root height
(mm)
|
Serrated degree
|
Frequency (kHz)
|
Experiment 5
|
0.166
|
0.155
|
0.082
|
0.471
|
7.397
|
Dry cutting
|
0.125
|
0.121
|
0.078
|
0.355
|
11.201
|
Wet cutting
|
0.180
|
0.124
|
0.080
|
0.355
|
6.513
|
Table 6
Analysis table of serrated degree at 10mm
Experience group
|
Average sawtooth spacing
(mm)
|
Average addendum height(mm)
|
Average root height
(mm)
|
Serrated degree
|
Frequency (kHz)
|
Experiment 5
|
0.175
|
0.202
|
0.125
|
0.381
|
10.536
|
Dry cutting
|
0.161
|
0.199
|
0.129
|
0.3
|
12.778
|
Wet cutting
|
0.147
|
0.196
|
0.134
|
0.316
|
13.015
|
In the secondary deformation zone, a lot of heat was generated due to the adhesion and friction between the chip and the rake face under high pressure, so the temperature of the second deformation zone was high. And the flow stress of the chip materials was decreased because of the thermal softening effect, which resulted in plastic deformation of the chip material near the rake face. Therefore, the state of the second deformation zone can largely reflect the temperature during cutting and the quality of cooling and lubrication, and the width of the second deformation zone was described by , as shown in Fig. 20. The of the three experiments was measured and shown in Fig. 24. It can be found that the of dry cutting at 5mm and 10mm was the largest, it was because of the high temperature during the cutting without the cooling and lubrication, and the flow stress was decreased. It meant that the friction in the second deformation zone was very large, resulting in serious tool wear as shown in Fig. 11. In addition, it can be clearly seen that the of the optimal parameter array at 5mm and 10mm was similar to that of the wet cutting and far lower than that of dry cutting. This indicated that the cutting fluid and cryogenic CO2 can exchange heat well, and reduce the temperature rise in the second deformation area. In addition, the good lubrication conditions made the friction coefficient and friction force of the tool-chip contact area decrease, and the temperature of tool-chip contact area decreased relatively. Therefore, cutting fluid and cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL can improve the adhesion and friction between chip and the tool rake face, which was beneficial to improve tool wear. And it can also found that the cooling and lubrication condition of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL is similar to that of cutting fluid, and the feasibility of the machining application of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL is proved.
The chip thickness of the three experiments was similar at 5mm, and the optimal parameter array of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL at 10mm was the smallest. With the increase of the serrated degree, the chip thickness decreased. At the same time, it was conducive to the separation of chips and played a certain role in improving tool wear.
Microhardness analysis was carried out with a force of 300gf on the non-free surface of chips obtained from the three groups of experiments, and the sampling points were shown in Fig. 25. As shown in Fig. 26, the non-free surface vickers hardness of dry cutting and wet cutting were similar. However, the hardness of the optimal parameter array of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL was the highest. The reason was that during the process of cryogenic CO2-assisted MQL, cryogenic CO2 increased the surface hardness of workpiece materials to a certain extent. When the cryogenic CO2 temperature was low, the protection effect of cryogenic CO2 on oil mist was unfavorable. It led to an increase in workpiece surface hardness and poor lubrication, which speeded up the tool wear. However, when the cryogenic CO2 temperature met the requirements and the oil flow was appropriate, the protection effect of cryogenic CO2 on oil mist was superior, which made the lubrication effect of the processing area better. Furthermore, the adverse effect on tool wear by the increase of workpiece surface hardness was reduced.