Experimental investigation on hard milling of high strength steel using PVD-AlTiN coated cemented carbide tool

• The machinability of high strength steel 30Cr3SiNiMoVA was evaluated using a coated carbide tool in hard milling.
• Vc = 110m/min, f = 0.08mm/rev and aw = 0.1mm are found to be the optimal cutting parameters.
• Radial and feed force are conformed to be highly correlated to the tool flank wear (correlation coefficient > 95%).
• The main failure modes of the PVD-coated tool are micro-chipping and coating peeling.

High strength steel 30Cr3SiNiMoVA (30Cr3) is usually used to manufacture the key parts in aviation industry owing to its outstanding mechanical properties. However, 30Cr3 has poor machinability due to its high strength and high hardness. Hard milling is an efficient way in machining high strength steels. This paper investigated hard milling of 30Cr3 using a PVD-AlTiN coated cemented carbide tool with regard to cutting forces, surface roughness, chip formation and tool wear, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the increase of cutting speed from 70 to 110 m/min leads to direct reduction of cutting forces and improvement of surface finish, while both feed rate and depth of cut have negative effect on surface finish. The occurrence of oxidation on chip surfaces under high cutting temperature makes the chips show different colors which are strongly influenced by cutting speed. Saw-toothed chips were observed with the occurrence of the thermo-plastic instability within the primary shear zone. Micro-chipping and coating peeling were confirmed to be the primary tool failure modes. Serious abrasion wear and adhesive wear with some oxidative wear were confimed to be the main wear mode in hard milling of 30Cr3.