Relationship between tool flank wear area and component forces in single point turning

This paper describes the relationship between flank wear area and cutting forces for turning operations. A set of experiments were performed on a CNC lathe without coolant. The CNMG120412N-UJ tool insert was used to cut low alloy steel (AISI 4340). Flank wear surface area was measured by surface texture instrument (Form Talysurf(TM) series) using a software package. Cutting forces were measured by a Kistler(TM) piezo-electric dynamometer. The experimental results show that there is an increase in the three directional components of the cutting force with increase in flank wear area. Among the three cutting forces measured, the tangential force is the largest while the radial force is the smallest. However, when the tool insert begins to fail, all the three cutting forces increase sharply, especially so for the axial and radial cutting forces. The radial force was also found to be slightly larger than the axial force when tool begins to fail. This paper also presents mathematical modeling for better understanding of the relationship between flank wear area and cutting forces. The mathematical models were solved by Matlab. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.