Tool life and wear of WC–TiC–Co ultrafine cemented carbide during dry cutting of AISI H13 steel

WC–5TiC–10Co ultrafine cemented carbides were prepared and used for the cutting tool for AISI H13 hardened steel. The effect of cutting parameters on the tool life and tool wear mechanism was investigated, and conventional cemented carbide with the same composition and medium grain size were prepared for comparison. The results showed that WC–5TiC–10Co ultrafine cemented carbides possess higher hardness and transverse rupture strength, and showed better cutting performance than conventional insert with the same cutting condition. Tool life was analyzed by an extended Taylor's tool life equation, indicating that cutting speed played a profound effect on the tool life and wear behavior of both cutting inserts. SEM and EDS analysis revealed that there were major adhesive wear and minor abrasive wear on the rake of WC–5TiC–10Co ultrafine inserts, and increase of cutting speed resulted in a transition from abrasion predominant wear mechanism to adhesive wear on the flank face. As for the conventional inserts, there were combination of more serious abrasive and adhesive wear on the rake and flank. The favorable cutting performance of ultrafine WC–5TiC–10Co inserts was attributed to the higher hardness and less thermal softening during machining.