Tool Temperatures and Wear in Micro-machining Cu-Ni Alloys with Diamond Tools: Models, Simulations and Experiments

Estimating cutting edge temperatures in micro-machining Cu-Ni alloys with single crystal diamond tools is the purpose of this paper, in order to assess how temperature affects tool wear, perhaps through a thermally activated mechanism. Classical heat conduction models, numerical temperature calculation models and finite element chip formation models are developed and applied to determine relations between temperature and cutting conditions in non-dimensional form that thus have a wide transferability.Experimentscalibrate and in part validate the results. Tool wear nose turning Monel 400 alloy is reported.It shows thermally activated dependence on temperature, with activation energy 53 ± 6kJ/mol.