Tribological characteristics and wear mechanism of cemented carbide tool in dry machining Ti-6Al-4V

In dry machining titanium alloys, tool wear is serious and machining efficiency is very low due to its low thermal conductivity and high chemical activity. The uncoated cemented carbide tool was used for the experiments of turning titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. Based on analysing the tribological characteristic of tool-chip and tool-workpiece interface using FEM, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to analyse tool wear mechanism. The results showed that there existed great differences of the friction between tool-chip/workpiece interface and general friction. There existed serious adhesion, diffusion and oxidation at the tool-workpiece interface. There was an optimal cutting condition under which the equilibrium of oxidation wear and adhesion wear can be achieved, which made tool wear reduce.