EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON TURNING OF INCONEL 718

B.Satyanarayana
Department of Mechanical Engineering, VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, India E-mail: [email protected]

G. Ranga Janardhana
Principal, College of Engineering, J N T U, Vizayanagaram, India E-mail: [email protected]

D. Hanumantha Rao
Department of Mechanical Engineering, MVSR Engineering College, Hyderabad, India E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Nickel-base super alloy, Inconel 718, is generally known to be one of the most difficult materials to machine because of its high hardness, high strength at high temperature. The aim of the present work is to study the influence of machinability factors such as cutting force, specific cutting pressure, and shear angle while machining Inconel 718 in terms of cutting parameters such as Cutting Speed, Feed rate, and Depth of Cut in turning operation. Taguchi experimental design method is used to set the parameters. Orthogonal array L9(3 power 3) of Taguchi, Signal to Noise ratio, the Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) are employed to find the optimal levels and to analyze the effect of the cutting parameters on machinability factors. Main effects of process parameters on the quality characteristics have been analyzed and the results show that the parameters setting for optimal machinability factors, obtained at a cutting speed of 43 m/min, feed rate 0.18 mm/min and depth of cut of 0.5. The cutting tool used is Sandvik make SNGN 120408 H13A. Confirmation tests with the optimal levels of cutting parameters are carried out. A multiple regression analysis was carried out to establish a mathematical model and the results are presented and analyzed in this paper.

Key words: Cutting Force, Specific Cutting Pressure, shear angle, Taguchi method. 1. CTION
Turning processes comprise a very big portion of metal cutting process in industry. The cutting parameters are selected mostly based on the experience or by hand book. But, this does not

INTRODU

guarantee that the selected parameters are optimal one. Nickel-base super alloy, Inconel 718, is generally known to be one of the most difficult materials to machine because of its high hardness, high strength at high temperature [1-3]. Inconel 718 is one of the mostly used materials among the commercial super alloys that are used in

space and airplane industry. Inconel 718 is considered to have poor machinability due to peculiar characteristics such as lower thermal conductivity, work hardening, presence of abrasive carbide particles, hardness, affinity to react with tool material etc., which makes it difficult to machine. Taguchi method is a powerful tool for the design of high quality systems. It provides simple, efficient and systematic approach to optimize designs for performance, quality and cost. Taguchi approach to design of experiments is easy to adopt and apply for users with limited knowledge of statistics, hence gained wide popularity in the engineering and scientific community [4]. The objective is to select the best combination of control parameters so that the product or process is most robust with respect to noise factors. The Taguchi method utilizes orthogonal arrays from design of experiments theory to study a large number of variables with a small number of experiments. Using orthogonal arrays the number of experimental configurations is significantly reduced. The use of different tool materials such as ceramic tools, coated carbide tools produced by PVD technique, CBN tools etc., appears to give better overall performance than uncoated carbide tools while machining nickel-based alloys[5-8], but their cost limits the use in engineering applications. Therefore the authors selected the uncoated cemented carbide tool. Considerable research and development efforts are directed worldwide to ensure efficient and economic machining of Inconel 718 while machining at high cutting conditions. However, machining of Inconel remained a difficult problem. An effective approach is still not available. Therefore the objective this work is to optimize the cutting force when machining Inconel 718 in terms of cutting parameters such as Cutting Speed, Feed rate, and Depth of Cut in turning operation. . The

setting of parameters was determined by using Taguchi experimental design method. The applications in which the concept of Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio is useful are the improvement of quality through variability reduction and the improvement of measurement. The S/N ratio is divided into three categoriessmaller the better, nominal the best and larger the better. The higher the S/N ratio the better the result [9-10]. The treatment of the experimental result is based on the analysis of average and analysis of Variance (ANOVA)[11-13]. The cutting force is chosen as the output parameter to understand thoroughly the machinability of Inconel 718 with uncoated cemented carbide tool insert Sandvik make SNGN 120408 H13A. 2. METHODOLOGY The present work attempts to understand and evaluate the machinability of Inconel 718 considering the practical difficulties. The process parameters are optimized using Taguachi method. Cutting force was used as a response characteristic. A lower cutting force gives long tool life, lesser deflection, low power consumption, dimensional accuracy and improved surface finish. Hence, lower the better S/N ratio characteristic was chosen for the cutting force. A regression model was developed based on the response characteristic of cutting force. The model was validated by carrying out a confirmation test. The results and its percentage error are presented in table. Specific cutting pressure is computed from measured cutting force and is often used to compare the machinability of materials, especially when comparative tool life data is not available. It provides the total energy expended in deforming the chip and in

overcoming friction between the tool and chip, respectively. It also represents the severity of the machining process. Thickness of the chips was measured for all the experiments. Based on the response characteristic, a regression model was developed and used to evaluate the other machinability index such as shear angle () to understand machinability of Inconel 718 using uncoated cemented carbide tool insert. Shear angle is also taken as a machinability evaluation factor. It dominates the cutting forces. Once the shear angle is defined, all other process parameters could be predicted.

In this work, experiments have been carried out on machinability of Inconel 718 using uncoated cemented carbide tool and the ISO designation of the insert is SNMG 120408 H 13A. The tool signature of the same is presented in Table 1. The work material used was Inconel 718 ( Ni = 54.48 %, Cr = 17.5%, Nb = 4.9%, Al = 0.66 %, Ti = 0.96% balance are Fe and other). Table 1: Tool signature of carbide insert used in experiments Inclination angle Orthogonal rake angle Orthogonal clearance angle Auxiliary cutting edge angle Principle cutting edge angle Included angle Nose radius - 60 -60 60 150 750 900 0.8mm

3. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT
Design of experiment is a powerful tool for analyzing the influence of the process variables over some specific variable, which is an unknown function of these process variables. The major step in the Taguchi method is the selection of factors affecting the performance measures. Based on the preliminary experiments the selected factors and their levels are presented in Table 2. The performance measure selected for the experimentation was cutting force. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to study the effect of process parameters and establish correlation among the cutting speed, feed and depth of cut with respect to cutting force. Lower the Better characteristic was chosen to obtain the correlation among the factors (cutting speed, feed and depth of cut) and the measured the cutting force. A multiple regression analysis was carried out to establish a mathematical model based on the above characteristics.

4.2 Experimental setup and cutting conditions

Machining tests were carried out on a Kirlosker Turnmaster 35 lathe under dry cutting conditions by varying cutting parameters such as cutting speed (Vc), feed(f), and depth of cut DoC,(d). Cutting force was measured online during turning of inconel 718 with three-component cantilever type strain gauge dynamometer. Chip thickness measurements were carried out with a precision ball end micrometer. Average chip thickness was obtained by taking the average of three readings at different locations of the same chips produced during machining. Based on the response characteristic of chip thickness a regression mathematical model was developed to evaluate other machinability factor such as shear angle () to understand the nature of machinability of Inconel 718. Taguchi-based method is used for analysis. Design based on Taguchi method design involves selection of response

4. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS 4.1 Tool and work piece

variables, independent variables, their interactions and an orthogonal array. Standard L9 orthogonal array was selected. Screening experiments were conducted so as to identify the suitable parameters and their levels. The parameters and the corresponding levels chosen for the investigations are shown in Table 2. Table 2: The machining parameters and their levels Parameters Cutting Speed Vc (m/min) Feed, f (mm/rev) Depth of Cut, d(mm) 5. Levels 2 3 27 0.2 0.75 42 0.25 1

depth of cut is the most influencing factor on the cutting force. Table 4: Response Table for S/N ratio smaller is better (Cutting Force F) Cutting Feed Speed (mm/rev) (m/min) -61.69 -61.686 -59.41 2.28 3 -59.34 -61.37 -62.07 2.73 2

Level 1 2 3 Delta Rank

DoC (mm) -58.48 -61.99 -62.31 3.83 1 of

1 17 0.18 0.5

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 5.1 Cutting Force Analysis

A lower cutting force gives long tool life, lesser deflection, low power consumption, dimensional accuracy and improved surface finish. Table 3 shows standard L9 orthogonal array with experimental results when machining Inconel 718. Table 3: Experimental layout using standard L9 orthogonal array with experimental results Cutting Depth Cutting Expt. Feed Speed of Cut Force No (mm/rev) (m/min) (mm) (F) 1 17 0.18 0.5 797 2 17 0.2 0.75 1247 3 17 0.25 1 1850 4 27 0.18 0.75 1297 5 27 0.2 1 1540 6 27 0.25 0.5 903 7 42 0.18 1 793 8 42 0.2 0.5 840 9 42 0.25 0.75 1243 The results are analyzed manually by choosing the lower the better S/N ratio characteristic for cutting force. Table 4 and 5 show the result the S/N ratio and ANOVA analysis and indicate that the

Table 5: Results of Analysis Variance for Cutting Force (F)

5.2 Selection of optimum set of conditions

To find the optimum set of conditions, the individual level average of S/N ratios is calculated. The objective is to maximize the S/N ratio, hence selected the factor levels which have maximum S/N ratio values. Table 6 show the optimum set of control factors and indicate that at high cutting speed, and at low feed and depth of cut the cutting force is optimum. Table 6: optimum set of conditions Cutting Force (F)

Control factor Optimum value

Cutting Speed Vc (m/min) 42

Feed f (mm/rev) 0.18

Depth of Cut, d(mm) 0.5

B 35 0.23 0.75 Table9: Comparison of experimental value and modeled value of cutting force Tests Cutting Force(F) Experimental value 950 1226 Model value 880 1181 % Error 7.4 3.7

5.3 Verification Experiment

Confirmation test was conducted with the above optimum set of conditions, the predicted and confirmation tests ,S/N ratios are presented in Table 7 . The difference in value of S/N ratios was with in 2 which is reasonable degree of approximation. Table 7: Comparison of S/N ratios S/N Ratio Value Predicted -55.376 Confirmation -57.36

A B

5.5 Effect of Depth of Cut and Feed on Cutting Force

Fig 1 and 2 shows the variation of cutting force with various depths of cut and feed rate at constant cutting speed. As the feed and depth of cut increases the cutting force is increasing at a constant cutting speed. It is due to the fact that higher coefficient of friction between the tool and work material because the contact area is more and chips are become thicker. Therefore increase in cutting force is due to increase in contact area and increase in shear strength in the flow zone.

5.4 Regression mathematical model for Cutting Force

The regression equation obtained for cutting force is as follows: Cutting Force (F) = -258.9-13.5 cutting speed (Vc) + 4744.2 feed (f) + 1095.6 DoC (d) [R2=74.79] The machining parameters used in turning of Inconel 718 for confirmation tests are presented in Table 8, Table 9 shows the percentage error between experimental values and modeled values. The percentage error associated with each experiment is observed to be lower and is well within the limit with a reasonable degree of approximation. Table 8: Cutting conditions used for confirmation test Cutting Depth Speed Feed, f Test No of Cut, Vc (mm/rev) d(mm) (m/min) A 23 0.19 0.5

Fig. 1 Influence of depth of cut on cutting force

shows variation of specific cutting pressure with depth of cut and feed. As the feed and depth of cut increases the specific cutting pressure decreases because specific cutting pressure is inversely proportional to the feed and depth of cut.
f=0.25 m /rev,V=42 m in m /m
7 400 7 200 7 000

Fig. 2 influence of feed rate on cutting force

6800 6600 6400 6200

5.6 Specific Cutting Pressure

Specific cutting pressure can also be used as one of the performance indicator of a tool and is usually influenced by the cutting speed and material. It is dependent on the tool work material pair. The specific cutting pressure is largely dependent on area of the chip section (d X f). The quality of the machined surface is significantly influenced by the status of the cutting wedge, the specific cutting pressure/cutting force, which are indirect indicators of the status of the cutting wedge, can be used as a process indicator. Hence, any change in the specific cutting pressure can be attributed to the loss of form stability of the cutting wedge. For all the conditions tested, the specific cutting pressure (SCP) was estimated from the measured cutting force value using the following equation: SCP= Fc/A = Fc/(f X d) N/mm2 Where Fc is the cutting force, and A is the undeformed chip cross sectional area, which is the product of the feed rate (f) and depth of cut (d). 5.7 Effect of Depth of Cut and Feed on Specific Cutting Pressure Cutting speed, feed and depth of cut were the main factors influencing the variation of specific cutting pressure at constant cutting speed. It is high for low feed rate and depth of cut. Fig 3 and 4

6000 5 800 5 600 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1 .1 Depth of Cut (m ) m

Fig 3. Effect of depth of cut on Sp. Cutting pressure.

d=1mm , v=42m/min Specific Cutting Pressure (N/mm2) 6400 6200 6000 5800 5600 0.17 0.18 0.19

0.2

0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26

Feed (mm/rev)

Fig 4. Effect of feed on Sp. Cutting pressure

5.8 Regression mathematical model thickness (b0)

for

chip

Chips were collected during each of the experiments. Chip thickness measurements were carried out with a ball end screw micrometer. The correlation between the factors (cutting speed, feed and depth of cut) and the measured chip thickness is obtained using multiple linear regression analysis. The regression equation obtained for chip thickness (b0) is presented below: b0 = -0.3771+0.0043 cutting speed (Vc) + 2.23 feed (f) + 1.133 Depth of Cut (d) [R2 = 84.8] 5.9 Shear

(b0/bc) and it decreases with increase in feed. As the shear angle is inversely proportional to the chip compression ratio, with increase in chip compression ratio, shear angle decreases, therefore with increase in depth of cut the shear angle decreases as shown in fig 8.
d=1m , V=42 m in m /m 9.2 9 8.8 8.6 8.4 8.2 8 7.8 7.6 7.4 7.2 7 0.17 0.18 0.19

Angle ()

Shear Angle(deg)

The basic mechanism of chip formation involves localized shear deformation of the work material ahead of the tool cutting edge. Shearing takes place over very narrow regions of the primary shear zone inclined at the socalled shear angle (). The work material is further subjected to extensive plastic deformation in the secondary shear zone adjacent to the chiptool interface and in the tertiary shear zone over the tool flank. Once the shear angle is defined, all the other process parameters could be predicted. Shear angle () dominates the cutting forces [14, 15], and it is calculated using following relationship: Tan = rc cos / (1 - rc sin ) Where cutting ratio (rc) =bc/bo, =rake angle, bc=uncut chip thickness, and bo=cut chip thickness. 5.10 Effect

0.2

0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26 Feed (mm)

Fig 7. Relationship between Feed Vs Shear angle

f=0.2 m /rev, V=42 m in m /m 13.2 12.8 12.4 12 11.6 11.2 10.8 10.4 10 9.6 9.2 8.8 8.4 8 7.6 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 D epth of cut (mm)

Fig 8. Relationship between depth of cut Vs Shear Angle.

of Depth of Cut and Feed on shear angle ()

From fig 7 it is observed that as the feed increases, there is an increase in shear angle. It is due to the already established fact that at constant cutting geometry, the shear angle is inversely proportional to chip compression ratio

CONCLUSIONS
In this experimental study, the work material chosen was Superalloy Inconel 718 which is a costly material and has got poor machinability. Therefore, the selections of optimal parameters are important to produce quality components and to minimize the higher unit cost.

Shear Angle(deg)

Keeping in mind the applications of this material the following conclusions are drawn based on the experimental study: In this study the optimal cutting condition was selected by varying cutting parameters through the Taguchi parameter design method. The results indicated that the Taguchi parameter design was an efficient way of determining the optimal cutting parameters for cutting force. ANOVA analysis for Lower the Better characteristics indicated that the depth of cut has major influence on the cutting force. The mathematical model developed is also effective in this regard. The optimum set of control factors indicates that at high cutting speed, and at low feed and depth of cut the cutting force is optimum from the selected cutting parameter values. The specific cutting pressure is usually influenced by the feed, depth of cut and tool work material used. In turning of Inconel 718 with uncoated carbide insert, there was a gradual decrease of the same with increasing feed and depth of cut.

The

shear angle is inversely proportional to the chip compression ratio, the shear angle increases with an increase in feed. With increase in depth of cut the shear angle decreases and it resulted in higher cutting force.

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