Improvement of cutting tools using laser-induced periodic surface structures for machining Aluminium alloy Al 6061 T6

Improving processes sustainability to address upcoming demands in metal processing industries such as innovative and hard to process materials has become a major topic for many manufacturers. Therefore, new tool material compositions or surface coatings are continuously developed. In this context, surface functionalization of cutting tools is foreseen as a convenient approach for minimizing material losses and thus energy consumption. In this work, laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) are used for manufacturing quasi-periodic line-like patterns on tungsten carbide inserts. The textured tool surfaces show low spatial frequency LIPSS (LSFL) with spatial periods of 500 nm to 600 nm as well as high spatial frequency LIPSS (HSFL) with a spatial period of ~100 nm. Furthermore, the texturing is applied on rake and flank faces of the cutting tools with different offsets to the edge between 0 and 0.2 mm. The wettability analysis reveals a decrease of static contact angles for the used cutting fluid (CIMSTAR) from 38° to 12°, suggesting an improved cooling process during the machining step. In addition, turning experiments under lubricated conditions are carried out on Al 6061 T6 parts to investigate the tribological performance. The used LIPSS-functionalized cutting tools could effectively decrease the main machining forces by 10 %, the feed force by 21 % and the passive force by 9 %. Furthermore, the laser-processed tools generate thinner chips, which leads to a decrease in surface roughness by 31 % of the aluminum work piece.