Characterisation of machinability of sintered steels during drilling operations

This study deals with the quantitative evaluation of the machinability of sintered steels during drilling operations. A characterisation technique using scanning electron microscopy and image analysis was developed to characterise quantitatively the amount of flank wear on drillbits. It was shown experimentally, using a drilling test bench, that the evolution of flank wear was proportional to the rate of variation of the thrust force as measured during drilling. Thus. the results show that the slope of the linear region measured on the curve of the thrust force v. the amount of material removed is a more accurate criterion to characterise the machinability of PM products than the average thrust force, which is often suggested in the literature.