Relation between hardmetal properties and process temperatures during metal cutting

Wear determines the productivity of hardmetal cutting tools and thus investigation of its wear behavior is of high interest. Previous studies showed that the cutting edge stability and thus tool life can only be enhanced with the use of specific cutting edge roundings. Therefore, hardmetals with systematically varied hardness and thermal conductivity were produced in this study. As the occurring process temperatures highly influence the hardmetal properties, both hardness and thermal conductivity were studied at elevated temperatures. The cutting process temperatures were measured to identify the relevant temperature window. Finally, the relations between hardmetal properties, tool microgeometry and process parameters and their influence on the measured tool wear are discussed.