Experimental investigation on tool life and chip morphology in hot machining of Monel-400

In the present study, an experimental investigation has been carried out to examine the effect of heating through a gas flame in the hot turning of Monel-400. Monel-400 is a Ni-base copper alloy used in aerospace, marine, and power plant sector due to its high corrosion resistance, high hardness, and ability to retain at high temperature, etc. Machining Monel-400 alloy in conventional way is tough due to rapid tool wear, hence bad surface finish. Hot machining is novel technique to solve this issues without compromise quality and production cost. The machining was conducted at different cutting parameters and heating temperature. The effect workpiece temperature on tool wear, tool life, chip-tool contact length and chip morphology has been discussed. The increase of cutting speed with heating temperature, the tool life increased 85% compared to room temperature. It was found that with an increase of feed rate with heating temperature, the tool life decreased and build-up-edge formation was observed at low cutting speed conditions. However, the effect of depth of cut with heating has a less significant effect on tool life. The chip morphology and chip thickness characteristics were also studied.