Machinability Enhancement of Lead-free Brass Alloys

This paper deals with fundamental investigations on the machinability of lead-free brass alloys. The effect of microstructure and silicon as alloying element on chip formation, cutting forces, tool temperatures and tool wear is analyzed during external turning. Based on that, various approaches for machinability enhancement were investigated in order to enable high performance cutting operations. The paper focuses on the influence of various tool coatings such as TiB2, DLC and diamond on abrasive and adhesive tool wear. Besides a significant decrease of tool wear, dry turning of lead-free brass alloys was realized by adapted tool coating. Moreover, investigations on the performance of PCD tools as well as high-pressure coolant supply strategy were carried out.