An Experimental Evaluation of Cutting Temperatures During High Speed Machining of Hardened D2 Tool Steel

This paper investigates experimentally the effects of different process parameters on the cutting edge temperature during high speed machining of D2 tool steel using polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) tools. The cutting edge temperature is measured using thermocouples. The process parameters considered are cutting speed, feed rate, nose radius, rake angle, and tool wear. The effects of different edge preparations including sharp, honed and chamfered are also investigated. The results show that increasing cutting speed and feed rate increases the cutting temperature while increasing nose radius reduces the cutting edge temperature. In addition, there is an optimum rake angle value at which minimum cutting temperature is generated.