Wear mechanism of CBN cutting tool during high-speed machining of mold steel

Wear behavior of cubic boron nitride (CBN) cutting tool when cutting P20 tool steel was investigated. Oblique cutting tests were performed on a CNC lathe using five speeds, namely, 240, 600 and 1000 m min−1. The CBN cutting tools were found to be superior to tungsten carbide (WC) tools. Fourfold increase in productivity and significant reduction in chipping and cratering was achieved for CBN as compared to WC. Wear, as the width of the wear land (VB), was monitored at selected time intervals; furthermore, topography of worn surfaces was performed, using a profilometer. Wear characterization of the rake and the flank surfaces as well as of the collected chips was conducted using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), backscattered electron imaging and energy depressive X-ray (EDX). It was found that deformation in the chips occurs by localized shear deformation and the dominant wear mechanism at all speeds used was identified to be diffusive wear. At a 1000 m min−1 cutting speed, a secondary wear mechanism was identified, which is melt wear, i.e., formation of low melting point Cr and Mn compounds with the tool material and the subsequent ejection from the cutting zone.