Measurement of specific cutting energy for evaluating the efficiency of bandsawing different workpiece materials

In cutting operations by multipoint cutting tools such as bandsawing, the layer of material removed per tooth (5–30 μm) is usually less than or equal to the cutting edge radius (5–15 μm). Furthermore, the bandsaw tooth is also restricted since it has to accommodate the chip in a gullet of limited size. This situation can lead to inefficient metal removal by a combination of piling up, discontinuous chip formation and ploughing action in contrast to the cutting operations by most of the single point cutting tools (e.g., turning). Specific Cutting Energy (ESP) is a better way of measuring the efficiency of the metal cutting process compared to the other processes such as determining tool wear, cutting forces, chip ratio, etc. This paper reports on the full bandsawing tests of three different workpiece materials (Ball bearing steel, Stainless steel and Ni–Cr–Mo steel). The increase of ESP throughout the life of the bandsaw reflected the degradation of the cutting performance due to the wear of the cutting edge geometry for Ball bearing and Stainless steels. However, there was no increase in ESP when cutting Ni–Cr–Mo steel, which could be explained by the existence of a large protective built-up edge and/or minimal blade wear. The variation of the ESP in different workpiece materials will also provide valuable information for bandsaw manufacturers and end users to estimate machinability characteristics for selected workpieces.