Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1017

Abstract: Recent years, use of the strong alkali ion water produced by electrolyzing high purity water (RO water) with addition of a small amount of electrolyte (potassium carbonate) is becoming widely used as a substitutable cleaning liquid in place of organic solvent which is said to exert a bad influence on the environment. The authors have been conducting a research to apply this strong alkali ion water (pH12 or so) to a working fluid for material removal processing. This is to cope with various problems relating to the existing water-soluble working fluid such as coolant putridity and the associated deterioration of factory environments and increased disposal costs of working fluids as well as to improve machining efficiency and tool life. In this study, the authors would like to describe how the working fluid consisting of water-soluble lubricant diluted with the strong alkali ion water contributes to an improvement of the factory environment and verify experimentally that the said fluid could improve the tool life by 1.2 to several times. In addition, a factor contributing to the improvement of material removal characteristics has been found to be the fact that the friction resistance of the said fluid containing the strong alkali ion water is as low as 2/3~1/2 of that of the fluid diluted with the city water.

Abstract: Diamond is widely used in the fields of precise and ultraprecise machining because of its superlative characters. Due to high hardness and great brittleness of diamond, the grinding of diamond needs a kind of high effective and stable polishing method. Dynamic friction polishing (DFP) is deemed to be an innovative method by means of a synergistic reaction of mechanical effect and chemical change. The condition of high pressure and high temperature puts forward a high requirement for mechanical property of the grinding wheel in DFP, other than that, the graphitization of diamond catalyzed by catalytic metal is also a focus of research. In this paper, the transition metals with unpaired d electrons were selected as polishing materials, and powder metallurgy technique was used to prepare alloy grinding wheel for polishing diamond by dynamic friction polishing.

Abstract: Since demands for Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) are increasing, the number of the studies on machining of CFRP is also increasing. However, since there are already reports on a trimming of a surplus portion or a drilling, we focus on a face machining and a generating the step shape with several cutting tools. Problems in the machining of CFRP include an occurrence of the burr and delamination. Therefore, in this report, we investigate these problems in face milling. And, the machining behavior (Cutting temperature, Cutting force) during the machining is estimated.

Abstract: In order to pursue possibility to machine sintered Tungsten Carbide by milling, series of ball end milling experiments are carried out with use of ball end mills made of sintered PCD and sintered CBN to machine flat inclined surface of sintered Tungsten Carbide. The experimental results show that the sintered Tungsten Carbide can well be machined by end milling. The ball end milling is also applied to finish rounding of the edges of the gear teeth. The maximum surface roughness of the finished gear teeth obtained is 1.1μm.

Abstract: Application of polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) based cutting tools for hard rock excavation in mining and construction industries has increased significantly in recent years due to their super hardness, superb thermal conductivity and long life durability. Super Material Abrasive Resistant Tool (SMART*CUT) technology has been developed by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in the last 15 years, which includes the replacement of tungsten carbide (WC) tips of the conventional picks with thermally stable diamond composite (TSDC) tips, attachment of the TSDC tips to steel tool bodies with CSIRO’s worldwide patented bonding technology. The wear characteristics of TSDC cutting elements have been investigated previously. In this paper, the preliminary results of cutter forces and resultant angle of SMART*CUT picks were compared with that of traditional WC picks. A tri-axial force dynamometer and a data acquisition system were used to measure the cutter forces. Besides, the cutting area temperature during cutting process was continuously measured by a FLIR SC7600M thermal infrared camera and the recorded data were processed by Altair Software.

Abstract: This study is developing environmentally friendly cutting technologies of difficult-to-machine materials by MQL (Minimum Quantity Lubrication) cutting with Ti-B coated tools. In this research, we performed cutting experiments of difficult-to-machine materials in dry, MQL and wet conditions with non-coated tools. Cutting resistance in the MQL cutting was almost the same as that in the wet cutting. Moreover, damage of the cutting tool was not observed after the MQL cutting. Therefore the MQL cutting is expected to become an advanced cutting technology by using Ti-B coated tools because Ti-B film had high temperature lubricating properties and high wear resistance.

Abstract: Data-mining methods using hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering are proposed, which could help manufacturing engineers determine guidelines for deciding end-milling conditions. We have constructed a novel system that uses clustering techniques and tool catalog data to support the determination of end-milling conditions for different types of recent difficult-to-cut materials. In the present report, we especially focus on the cutting speed to estimate the performance of this system. A comparison with the conditions recommended by famous tool makers in Japan, reveals that our proposed system can be used to determine the cutting speeds for various difficult-to-cut materials. That is, milling experiments using a square end mill under two sets of end-milling conditions (conditions derived from the end-milling condition decision support system and conditions suggested by expert engineers) for difficult-to-cut materials (austenite stainless steel; JIS SUS310) showed that the catalog mining method is effective for deriving guidelines for deciding end-milling conditions at the beginning of the manufacturing stage.

Abstract: This study describes the non-rotationally symmetric diamond turning (XZC turning) for producing large-size precision freeform mirror. This is a high speed machining method as compared with the traditional XYZ diamond milling or fly-cutting. Moreover, the application of this method is a key factor in the development of the ultra-precision light-weight freeform mirror for outer space use. This report introduces these cutting-edge approaches.

Abstract: This paper describes influence of the cutting conditions on the hole shape accuracy in deep-hole machining of stainless steel with small-diameter drill. The drilling tests were carried out by changing the step feed, the rotational speed and the feed rate in order to investigate the relationship between the straightness of the hole and the cutting conditions. As a result, it was found that the thrust force decreased with a decrease in the step feed amount and accordingly the straightness was improved. By changing the drill in incremental step from short drill length to long drill length, the straightness was improved.

Abstract: A simple processing method for splitting pipes in the axial direction using a cutting tool was investigated. The special tool developed in this study was pressed into the pipes in the axial direction, and the pipes were split very smoothly without any lubricant. This cutting method did not form fine chips, did not produce a significant heat effect on the inner wall surface. The splitting experiment was carried out with pipes constructed of aluminum and stainless steel. The outer diameters of the pipes were approximately 50 mm, and the thicknesses of the wall varied from 1 to 3 mm. The aluminum pipes were split very smooth by the tool, and curled strip-shaped chips were created by the splitting. On the other hand, the stainless pipes were greatly deformed, making them difficult to cut. Therefore, it was necessary to prevent deformation of the pipe by attaching an outer tool. The outer tool made it possible to cut stainless steel pipes.