Development of a cutting tool with nano/micro-textured surface (Improvement of anti-adhesive effect)

Abstract

In recent years, the demand for lightweight composite materials based on aluminum is rapidly increasing in the transport industry. Generally it is considered that aluminum alloys are easy-to-cut materials due to their low hardness. However, it is noted that some serious problems exist. Because of low lubricity against the cutting tool surface during deep-hole drilling, milling and tapping, aluminum adheres strongly to the cutting edge of the tool, which leads to the tool breakage. To solve the problem, our previous research proposed a cutting tool with micro textured surfaces to investigate the role of the textured surfaces play in a) retaining cutting fluid, and b) reducing the actual contact area between the tool and chip. These effects lead to increase lubricity and promote antiadhesive effects at the tool/chip interface. A cutting tool with a segment-structured diamond-like carbon (DLC) was also developed, and it was found that the cutting tool maintains good lubricity in wet conditions. However, the adhesion problem remained. This stydy developed a DLC coated cutting tool with nano/micro-textured surface utilizing femtosecond laser technology in order to overcome the above-mentioned problem. A series of face milling experiments for aluminum alloy revealed almost no adhesion on the tool surface when cutting with the newly developed cutting tool. This demonstrated that the nano/micro texture, namely, periodic nano/micro scale grooves significantly improved the anti-adhesive effects of the tool surface.