Improving lubrication performance of cemented carbide tools combined Fe₃O₄ nanofluids lubricating and micro-groove textures in high-speed milling Ti6Al4V

Abstract

Efficient lubrication is the key to reducing tool friction and wear, decreasing cutting force and enhancing tool cutting performance. To find a more efficient way to improve the lubrication performance of the tools in high-speed cutting hard-cutting materials, YG6X cemented carbide milling inserts textured with micro-groove parallel to the main cutting edge and Fe₃O₄ nanofluids with a mass concentration of 0.5% were fabricated, the friction and wear tests and contact angle tests were carried out to investigate the coupling lubrication effects of micro-textures and nanofluids. Results obtained in this work indicated that the friction coefficient of micro-texture sample under nanofluids lubrication was reduced by 92.2% when compared with the un-textured sample under dry friction, and the contact angle of the nanofluids droplet on micro-texture surface was 72.1% lower than that of the emulsion droplet on un-textured surface. Based on the results, a series of experiments were further carried out on high-speed milling Ti6Al4V using micro-texture milling cutter under the nanofluids lubrication. The results showed that cutting forces of micro-texture milling cutters under nanofluids lubrication were reduced by 19.1%, 30.8%, 37.7% and 30.0% when compared with un-textured milling cutters under emulsion lubrication at the spindle speeds of 1000r/min, 2000r/min, 3000r/min and 4000r/min.