Diffusion wear of cemented carbide tools when cutting steel at high speeds

Abstract

The wear processes responsible for the formation of a crater on the rake face of WC-Co and WC-(Ti, Ta, W)C-Co cemented carbide tools when cutting mediumcarbon steel have been studied, using optical and electron optical techniques. It has been shown that both WC and (Ti, Ta, W)C grains are very stable at the interface, and that any changes in the carbides resulting from the cutting operation must be in layers less than 50Å thick. The evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that the crater worn in the rake face when cutting steel with carbide tools at high speeds is the result of atomic diffusion into the work material flowing over the surface, rather than the mechanical detachment offragments of the tool material.