Tool life and wear mechanisms in high speed machining of Ti-6Al-4V alloy with PCD tools under various coolant pressures

Usage of titanium alloys has increased since the past 50 years despite difficulties encountered during machining. Many studies involving different tool materials, cutting parameters, tool geometry and cutting fluids when machining this important aerospace material have been published. However, there are relatively few literatures available on the application of ultra hard tools in the machining of titanium-alloys. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the behaviour of Polycrystalline Diamond (PCD) tools when machining Ti-6Al-4V alloy at high speed conditions using high pressure coolant supplies. Tool performance under different tribological conditions and the dominant wear mechanisms were investigated. Increase in coolant pressure tends to improve tool life and reduce the adhesion tendency, accelerated by the susceptibility of titanium alloy to gall during machining. Adhesion and attrition are the dominant wear mechanisms when machining at the cutting conditions investigated.