Advanced surface engineering of circular saw blades

Abstract

For a number of years advanced surface engineering technologies such as ion implantation, sputtering, and arc evaporation have been widely used to enhance the performance of single point cutting tools. However during this time very little work has been reported on applying the same surface engineering technologies to enhance the performance of multipoint cutting tools. The present paper evaluates the effectiveness of arc evaporation, sputtering, and ion implantation techniques as means of enhancing the performance of M2high speed steel circular saw blades when operating at cutting conditions recommended for standard untreated blades. Tool performance was evaluated using the specific cutting energy E_sp criterion, a measure of the energy required to remove a specific volume of workpiece material. The parameter was initially applied at an optimised feedrate, and the energy requirement of a treated blade was then measured as it machined a number of sections of standard workpiece material. All test results were compared to an untreated blade operating under the same cutting conditions.