Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

High-speed end-milling of AISI 304 stainless steels using new

geometrically developed carbide inserts
K.A. Abou-El-Hossein , Z. Yahya
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 43009 Kajang, Malaysia

Abstract
AISI 304 stainless steel possesses some properties, such as low thermal conductivity and high ductility that make them be classified under
materials of poor machinability that exhibit a lot of difficulties during cutting. This work reports an experimental study on the performance of
multilayered (TiN/TiCN/TiN) carbide inserts recently developed for end-milling of AISI 304 stainless steels. The length of chiptool contact
is small for these inserts as they contain a chip breaker that restricts the chiptool contact area. In this study, the possible failure modes of tool
wear were discussed and the effect of cutting speed and feed rate variation on tool life and tool wear modes was investigated. An increase
in tool wear was noticed with increasing the cutting speed, while at the same time, a decrease in tool wear was observed with increasing the
cutting feed. The most optimum cutting parameter for end-milling operation using a single end mill was established in terms of maximum
productivity and maximum tool life.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Flank wear; Tool life; TiN coated carbide; 304 stainless steel

1. Introduction
Austenitic stainless steels are grades of chromiumnickel
steels exhibiting a very high corrosion resistance in addition
to a wide range of excellent mechanical properties not offered
by any other alloy. Austenitic group of stainless steels are
non-magnetic materials and cannot be hardened by traditional
heat treatment processes although they can be strengthened
by cold working [1].
AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel is categorised under a
group of materials that are very hard to machine. Machining
operations of austenitic stainless steels are usually accompanied by a number of difficulties such as irregular wear and
built-up-edge (BUE) on the tool flank face and crater face,
respectively [2]. The presence of BUE will cause an increase
in tool wear rate and deterioration of the surface integrity of
the work.
The poor machinability of this material is usually accounted for some reasons such as having very low heat conductivity (50% of that of plain carbon steels), high ductility,

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: khaled@uniten.edu.my (K.A. Abou-El-Hossein).

0924-0136/$ see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2005.02.129

high tensile strength, high fracture toughness and high work

hardening rates [2,3]. Work hardening of stainless steels is
caused after a previous severe cutting operation by a worn
tool. Work hardening will cause increased rates of tool wear
and damage. One way employed to reduce work hardening
effect on tool life is to conduct end-milling operations at high
feed rates with a sharp tool [4].
Several studies on machining of austenitic stainless steels
have been conducted in order to evaluate the performance
of different tool materials when cutting different grades of
stainless steels. Parro et al. [5] studied tool wear characteristics of TiN and Al2 O3 coated carbide inserts when turning of
X5CrMnN 1818 stainless steels. It was found that tool failure
at tool nose was the dominant wear mechanism which was
due to high cutting forces and sharp edge shipping. Agrawal
et al. [6] studied the performance of coated and uncoated
carbide tools in turning operations of cast austenitic stainless
steels. The study reported that the composition of stainless
steel grades influenced the tool wear and toolchip adherence.
Nordin et al. [7] found that a multilayered TiN/TaN coating
outperformed single layered TiN and TaN inserts due to its
lower toolchip interaction. Giu et al. [8] reported that TiAlN
coated inserts produced high wear resistance than TiN and

K.A. Abou-El-Hossein, Z. Yahya / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

ZrN coated tools. OSulliran and Cotterell [9] studied the

machinability of AISI 303 stainless steels with an emphasis on work hardening effect during machining using on-line
techniques. Some studies indicated that the machinability of
stainless steels can be improved by adding oxide forming
elements, such as sulphide and calcium [10,11]. Sulphides
cause an increase in plastic properties of stainless steels during machining. This results in less cutting forces and less heat
generation and, hence an increase in tool life. Sun et al. [12]
studied the adherent characteristics when cutting stainless
steels using cemented carbides. It was found that adherent
layers formed on the tool rake face at medium cutting speeds
and there was no BUE produced at high or low speeds.
Carbide inserts experience more severe cutting conditions
during milling rather that in turning operations. This is explained by the interrupting actions that occur during milling
as the tool consists of a number of cutting teeth. The interrupting action will lead to the formation of comb-like macrocracks, and to the reduction of BUE rate as an insert is not
continuously in contact with the chip formed as it is the case
in turning operations.
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of
a study that has been done on tool wear of multilayered
(TiN/TiCN/TiN) carbide inserts, recently developed for cutting stainless steels, when end-milling of AISI 304 stainless
steel using a single-insert end-milling cutter.

597

Fig. 1. SEM image of TiN/TiCN/TiN coated carbide insert ADKT 1035

PDSRLC.

2. Experimental details

possess a clearance angle and a rake face angle of 7 and 15 ,

respectively, with a lightly honed T-land at the cutting edge.
The microstructure and some geometrical specifications of
this insert (before cutting) are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively.
The inserts, equipped with a chip breaker, are manufactured by Kennametal with an ISO designation of ADKT
1035 PDSRLC (KC725M). They are specially developed for
milling applications where stainless steel is the major machined material. The tool holder used in the experiment is a
single-insert holder with a diameter of 12 mm (Fig. 3).

2.1. Workpiece material

2.3. End-milling cutting tests

The AISI 304 stainless steel workpieces were provided

in fully annealed condition in sizes of 50.8 mm 50.8 mm
120 mm and produced by Sanyo Special Steel Co. Ltd. The
yield and tensile strengths are 296 and 600 MPa, respectively.
The workpiece was checked for its hardness with an average
value of HRB 88. The chemical composition of the machined
workpiece material is shown in Table 1.

The end-milling tests were conducted on Okuma CNC

machining centre MX-45VA with a maximum spindle rotary
speed of 7000 rpm and maximum power of 10 hp. The cutting
tests were carried out according to ISO standard. The tests
were performed using a coolant at surface cutting speeds of
150, 190, 225 and 260 m/min, constant axial depth of cut of

2.2. Tool material

The tools used in this study are carbide inserts PVD coated
with a multilayer of TiN/TiCN/TiN. The employed inserts
Table 1
Chemical composition (wt.%) of AISI 304
Element

wt.%

C
Si
Mn
Cr
Mo
P
S
Ni

0.02
0.32
1.31
16.4
2.03
0.30
0.20
12.17

Fig. 2. Geometrical elements of insert ADKT 1035 PDSRLC.

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K.A. Abou-El-Hossein, Z. Yahya / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

Fig. 3. Single-insert tool holder.

10 mm and constant radial depth of cut of 2 mm. Four values of cutting feeds of 0.025, 0.050, 0.075 and 0.100 mm/rev
were used for each cutting speed, thus, making the total of cutting experiments equal to 16 tests, which were repeated three
times in order to have accurate readings of the flank wear.
The feeds and depths of cut were selected based on recommendations given by the insert manufacturer. Cutting speeds
were chosen higher than above the recommended speeds in
order to move the experiment into the high cutting speed
category.
The workpiece was prepared by chamfering one edge
where the tool entered so that the depth of cut increased
gradually. This measure helped to reduce the impact produced during the tool penetration into the workpiece. Every
two passes (one pass is equal to 115 mm), the cutting test was
stopped to observe the flank wear VB an optical microscope
with an image analyser. The tests then were continued until
the flank wear VB had exceeded 0.3 mm in accordance with
ISO 8688.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 4. Relationship between cutting speeds and tool life at different feeds.

that high-speed end-milling on AISI 304 should be performed

at low values of feed (around 0.025 mm/rev).
3.2. Productivity
A very important indicator of the performance of metal
cutting operations is the productivity or volume of material
removed per unit time. No matter how long a cutting tool can
last if the material removal rate is small.
It is observed that maximum material removed in one
combination of these cutting tests is at the cutting speed
(V = 150 m/min) and feed (F = 0.075 mm/rev) (see Fig. 5).
The tool life at these cutting conditions is about 14.5 min,
which is close to the maximum tool life value received which
is 16.9 min.

3.1. Tool life and effect of cutting speed and feed

The combination of cutting speeds and feeds has an extremely significant importance on the value of tool life. In
the cutting tests performed on AISI 304 stainless steel, the
increase in cutting speed at a constant feed caused a noticeable reduction in tool life (Fig. 4).
At high cutting speeds (260 m/min), the variation of feed
values between 0.05 and 0.1 mm/rev had nearly no effect on
tool life.
At these values of feeds, tool life ranged between 3 and
4 min. However, at the lowest value of feed (0.025 mm/rev),
tool life increased to double (7.4 min). This may be accounted
for reduced cutting speeds and chip load at low feed rates,
and increased time that the tool edge had spent outside the
cutting zone which means increased time for cooling. This
observation was confirmed as built-up-edge (BUE) was noticed to form at high feeds rather than at low ones, where the
coolant effect was limited. Consequently, one can conclude

Fig. 5. Relationship between tool life and volume of material removed.

K.A. Abou-El-Hossein, Z. Yahya / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

599

Table 2
Two groups of optimum cutting conditions for end-milling AISI 304 with
maximum productivity and tool life
Parameter

Cutting speed
(m/min)

Feed
(mm/rev)

Tool life
(min)

Volume removed
(cm3 )

Group 1
Group 2

150
190

0.075
0.075

14.5
12.0

92
90

Cutting conditions, which have produced maximum tool

life (V = 150 and F = 0.05 mm/rev), yields material removal of
only 50% of that maximum volume removed. Herewith, one
can conclude that optimum cutting conditions that yield high
material removal rate at quite long tool lives. These conditions
can be represented as two groups of cutting conditions shown
in Table 2.

Fig. 8. Cutting length vs. flank wear at feed of 0.075 mm/rev.

Fig. 6. Cutting length vs. flank wear at feed of 0.025 mm/rev.

cording to ISO standard, once the flank wear exceeded

0.3 mm, the tests were stopped and samples of the cutting
inserts were prepared for further analyses of wear mechanisms using scanning electron microscopy.
Form these figures, it can be noticed that, for most cutting
experiments, the flank wear developed in three stages: rapid
initial wear, gradual uniform wear and accelerating wear. Observing Fig. 6, one can notice that at the feed 0.05 mm/rev
for cutting speeds 225 and 260 m/min, the initial flank wear
started at a larger value (120 and 100 m, respectively) compared to the average flank wear of other cutting speeds and
feeds. Although the initial wear for these two speeds, at
0.05 mm/rev feed, was the highest in all cutting tests, their
flank wear limit (0.3 mm) was reached after a cutting length
longer than that of 0.025 mm/rev for the same cutting speeds.
This may be explained if we consider that at lower values
of feeds the cutting tool edge spends more time in contact
the workpiece rubbing against the machined surface, thus,
causing an increased rate of abrasive wear. The same observation can be made for the other two speeds (150 and
190 m/min). The flank wear progression for these two speeds
at 0.05 mm/rev feed was slower than at 0.025 mm/rev feed.
The three stages of flank wear progression can be seen
clearly in Figs. 8 and 9. At the highest feed (0.1 mm/rev),

Fig. 7. Cutting length vs. flank wear at feed of 0.05 mm/rev.

Fig. 9. Cutting length vs. flank wear at feed of 0.075 mm/rev.

3.3. Analysis of tool wear progression

Figs. 69 show the relationships between cutting lengths
and the flank wear at cutting speeds of 150, 190, 225, and
260 m/min and feeds of 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1 mm/rev.
The cutting experiments were stopped every 115 mm and
flank wear VB was measured using an image analyser. Ac-

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Fig. 10. Flank wear at Vc = 225 m/min and F = 0.025 mm/rev.

Fig. 12. Flank wear at Vc = 225 m/min and F = 0.075 mm/rev.

and cutting speeds of 225 and 260 m/min (Fig. 9), the flank
wear started a relatively low value (20 m) and grew rapidly
until 90 m and then moved to the second stage where it
progressed at a slow rate until it reached the wear limit with
some acceleration. Herewith, one can conclude that the effect of feed on wear is strong at low values as the time of
the toolchip interaction is larger than that of higher feeds.
Thus, in terms of flank wear, the best cutting conditions, that
allowed the maximum usage of tool with slow tool wear progression were received at feed rate 0.075 mm/rev at either
150 or 190 m/min.
Notch wear is a type of flank wear that appears on the tool
cutting edge at the location corresponding to the original surface of the machined part. It occurs because the original work
surface is harder and more abrasive than the internal material
due to work hardening from previous machining. Notch wear
was the dominant mode of failure observed during the cutting experiments. This mode was clearly noticeable at conditions of the highest cutting speed (225 m/min) and low feeds
(0.025 mm/rev) used in this study (see Figs. 10 and 11). This
failure is maybe due to the work hardening effect produced
in the workpiece surface after being machined at low feeds.

Figs. 12 and 13 show that the flank wear at 225 m/mim

tends to be more uniform with increasing the feed value.
The notch wear was not clearly seen at feed of 0.075 and
0.1 mm/rev. On the other hand, for these feeds, the flank wear
at the tool nose was noticed which may indicates the big loads
the tool edge had experienced during machining at increased
feeds and cutting speeds.
In addition, it was clearly noticeable that at high cutting
speeds and low feeds the tool flank wear at the second stage
(gradual wear) was involving chipping and grooving of the
cutting edge (Fig. 14). This is maybe accounted for the thermal shocks produced by of non-uniform coolant effect during
machining at low feeds.
During machining ductile materials such as austenitic
stainless steels, built-up-edge chip can easily be formed at
certain cutting conditions. In this study, it was found that
BUE occurred mostly at 190 m/min speed and 0.075 mm/rev
feed (Fig. 15). BUE was absent at higher or lower cutting
speed and feed. The insert used at these cutting conditions
was sectioned and polished to be investigated by a scanning
electron microscope equipped EDX. Fig. 16 shows an SEM

Fig. 11. Flank wear at Vc = 225 m/min and F = 0.05 mm/rev.

Fig. 13. Flank wear at Vc = 225 m/min and F = 0.01 mm/rev.

K.A. Abou-El-Hossein, Z. Yahya / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

601

Fig. 14. Chipping of the cutting edge at Vc = 190 m/min and F =

0.025 mm/rev.

Fig. 15. BUE at Vc = 190 m/min and F = 0.075 mm/rev.

image of this insert. It is clearly seen that that 304 stainless

steel chips welded to the tool edge at these cutting conditions
forming a BUE. The formation of BUE led to a dramatic
increase in the load exerted on the tool edge. This caused
micro-chipping and cracks of the tool. As it is shown, not far

from the chiptool contact, a narrow crack of 30 m depth

(Fig. 16a and c).
Fig. 16b shows small tool material particles embedded
into the chip body and moving away with chip leaving the
tool body. These micro-particles may fall in the boundary

Fig. 16. (a) SEM image of cross-section of polished insert (Vc = 190 m/min and F = 0.075) revealing BUE and micro-crack; (b) narrow deep micro-crack near
the toolchip boundary; (c) micro-particles leaving tool body and moved away by chip.

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K.A. Abou-El-Hossein, Z. Yahya / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 162163 (2005) 596602

Fig. 17. EDX analysis at point A in tool body near toolchip boundary.
Table 3
Chemical composition of tool at point A
Element

wt.%

W
Co
C
Cr
Fe
Ni

78.94
11.87
5.96
0.91
1.61
0.71

zone between the tool and the chip causing more severe
abrasive action that leads to more intensive wear. The removal of micro-particles from the tool body maybe is accounted for the welding action of the chip material onto the
tool edge. This results in an increase in the tool temperature, thus, reducing the red hardness property of the tool
material.
In addition to flank wear caused by abrasive action and
BUE caused by adhesion wear, another mode of tool failure,
which is diffusion wear, occurred. Diffusion wear takes place
at the toolchip boundary in the form of atom exchange, thus,
resulting in a reduction in the tool hardness.
The EDX analysis of a point taken in the tool body (point
A) (Fig. 17) proved this kind of wear. The tool body contained some elements such as Fe, Cr and Ni. These elements transferred from the chip body into the tool. Fig. 17
and Table 3 show the chemical composition of the tool at
point A.

4. Conclusions
The conclusions drawn from this study on end-milling of
AISI 304 stainless steel using a newly developed carbide tools
are as follows:
1. The increase in cutting speed caused a dramatic reduction in tool life. The tool lives of the highest three cutting
speeds used in this study (190, 225 and 260 m/min) were
close to each other while the tool life at Vc = 150 m/min
was almost doubled.

2. Feed variation at high cutting speeds has small affect

on tool life. Varying feed at cutting speed of 260 m/min
yielded nearly the same tool life.
3. It was found that BUE occurred at high values of feeds and
medium cutting speeds (190 and 225 m/min). This agrees
with the findings by Sun et al. [12].
4. The most optimum cutting conditions that yielded good
productivity at maximum possible tool life were at
Vc = 150 m/min and F = 0.075 mm/rev.
5. The dominant tool failure mode was notch wear at the
flank face. This mode occurred at high feed. This proves
that the AISI 304 experiences work hardening effect when
machined at high feed. However, with reducing the feed
rate, toll wear at the nose becomes more dominant. In
addition SEM and EDX analysis revealed the occurrence
of diffusion wear and microcracks at Vc = 190 m/min and
F = 0.075 mm/rev.

Acknowledgements
The financial support by University Tenaga National is
gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Badrol Ahmad and Mr. Fahmi
from Tenaga National Research Centre are also acknowledged for helping with the SEM analyses.

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