ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 754759

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

Cutting temperature, tool wear, surface roughness and dimensional

deviation in turning AISI-4037 steel under cryogenic condition
N.R. Dhara,, M. Kamruzzamanb
a
Department of Industrial & Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, DUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Available online 30 October 2006

Abstract

Machining of steel inherently generates high cutting temperature, which not only reduces tool life but also impairs the product quality.
Conventional cutting uids are ineffective in controlling the high cutting temperature and rapid tool wear. Further, they also deteriorate
the working environment and lead to general environmental pollution. Cryogenic cooling is an environment friendly clean technology for
desirable control of cutting temperature. The present work deals with experimental investigation in the role of cryogenic cooling by liquid
nitrogen jet on cutting temperature, tool wear, surface nish and dimensional deviation in turning of AISI-4037 steel at industrial speed-
feed combination by coated carbide insert. The results have been compared with dry machining and machining with soluble oil as
coolant. The results of the present work indicate substantial benet of cryogenic cooling on tool life, surface nish and dimensional
deviation. This may be attributed mainly to the reduction in cutting zone temperature and favorable change in the chiptool interaction.
Further it was evident that machining with soluble oil cooling failed to provide any signicant improvement in tool life, rather surface
nish deteriorated.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Turning; Steel; Cryo-cooling; Coated carbide; Wear and product quality

1. Introduction carbides and high-performance ceramics. But high perfor-

Machining is the process in which a tool removes
material from the surface of a less-resistant body, through
relative movement and application of force. The material
removed, called chip, slides on the face of the tool, known
as tool rake face, submitting it to high normal and shear
stresses and, moreover, to a high coefcient of friction
during chip formation [1]. Most of the mechanical energy
used to form the chip becomes heat, which generates high
temperatures in the cutting region. High cutting tempera-
ture, which adversely affects tool life, dimensional and
form accuracy, surface integrity of the product, inherently
characterizes high-speed machining. In industry, such high
cutting temperature and its detrimental effects are generally
reduced by proper selection of process parameters, proper
selection application of cutting uid, and using heat and
wear resistance cutting tool materials like carbides, coated
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nrdhar@ipe.buet.ac.bd (N.R. Dhar).
mance ceramics (CBN and diamond) are extremely heat
and wear resistive, but those are too expensive, and are
justied for very special work materials and requirements
where other tools are not effective.
Conventionally applied coolants, even with extreme
pressure additives, fail to provide desirable control of
cutting temperature, as they cannot penetrate into the
chiptool interface predominantly due to plastic contact
between the tool and chip, especially at high cutting speed
[24]. High-pressure jet of conventional coolant has been
reported to provide some reduction in cutting temperature
[5]. However, such coolants are major source of pollution
from the machining industry and its disposal cost is also
increasing due to strict environmental regulations [6].
Therefore, the handling and disposal of cutting uids must
obey rigid rules of environmental protection. On the shop
oor, the operators may be affected by the bad effects of
cutting uids, such as by skin and breathing problems [7].
Possibility of controlling high cutting temperature in
high production machining by some alternative methods

0890-6955/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2006.09.018
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.R. Dhar, M. Kamruzzaman / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 754759
has been reported. Cutting forces and temperature were
found to reduce while machining steel with tribologically
modied carbide inserts [8]. High-pressure coolant injec-
tion technique not only provided reduction in cutting
forces and temperature, but also reduced the consumption
of cutting uid by 50% [9]. Application of CO2 in the form
of liquid jet also provided some reduction in cutting forces
[10]. Some works have recently been done on cryogenic
cooling by liquid nitrogen jet in grinding some steel of
common use [1113]. Compared to dry grinding and wet
grinding with conventional uid, cryogenically cooled
grinding provided much better surface integrity, lesser
cutting forces and longer wheel life, though in different
degrees for different steels, mainly through reducing
temperature, preventing wheel loading and retaining grits
sharpness.
The earlier work [1417] of late 60s and early 70s
reported that cryogenic cooling notably reduced cutting
force and temperature and improved tool life and surface
integrity in continuous as well as in interrupted machining.
Benecial effects of cryogenic cooling in turning stainless
steel and KEVLAR composite by diamond tools were also
reported [18]. The favorable role of cryogenic cooling on
chip breaking, cutting temperature, cutting force and tool
wear in turning [1922] and overall performance of carbide
inserts in face milling [23] has recently been reported. While
investigating the tool wear mechanism in turning reaction-
bonded silicon nitride with CBN inserts, the tool life was
found to increase due to cooling by liquid nitrogen [24,25].
The review of the literature suggests that cryogenic
cooling provides several benets in machining and grind-
Table 1
Experimental condition
Machine tool : High power rigid lathe, USA, 15 hp
Work specimens
Materials : AISI-4037 steel (C-0.37%, Mn-0.80%, P-0.035%, S-0.04%, Si-0.20%, Cr-0.25%)
Size : F125  760 mm
Cutting tool : Coated carbide, Sandvik
Coating: TiCN+Al2O3
SNMG 120408-26
Tool holder : PSBNR 2525 M12 (ISO specication), Sandvik
Working tool geometry : Inclination angle
Orthogonal rake angle
Orthogonal clearance angle
Auxiliary cutting edge angle
Principal cutting edge angle
Nose radius
Process parameters
Cutting velocity, Vc : 165, 194, 239 and 264 m/min
Feed rate, So : 0.10, 0.13, 0.16 and 0.20 mm/rev
Depth of cut, t : 1.5 mm
Environment : Dry, wet and cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen
755
ing. The main objectives of the present work is to
experimentally investigate the role of cryogenic cooling
by liquid nitrogen jet on tool wear, dimensional accuracy
and surface nish in turning of AISI-4037 steel at industrial
speed-feed combinations by coated carbide insert and to
compare the effectiveness of cryogenic cooling vis-a-vis dry
and wet machining.
2. Experimental investigation
For the present experimental studies, AISI-4037 steel bar
(j125 mm  760 mm) was turned in a high-power rigid
lathe (Lehman Machine Company, St. Louis, USA, 15hp)
by coated carbide insert at industrial speed-feed combina-
tions under all dry, wet and cryogenic cooling conditions.
The experimental conditions are given in Table 1. The
ranges of the cutting velocity (Vc) and feed rate (So) were
selected based on the tool manufacturers recommendation
and industrial practices. Depth of cut, being a less
signicant parameter, was kept xed.
The photographic view of the experimental setup is
shown in Fig. 1. For cooling and lubrication, liquid
nitrogen ( 196 1C) in the form of thin but high speed
was impinged from a specially designed nozzle along
the cutting edge of the insert, as indicated in Fig. 1 (right),
so that the coolant reaches as close to the chiptool and
the worktool interfaces as possible. The liquid nitrogen
jet has been used mainly to target the rake surface and
ank surfaces along the auxiliary cutting edge and to
protect the auxiliary ank to enable better dimensional
accuracy.
: 61
: 61
: 61
: 151
: 751
: 0.8 mm
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756 N.R. Dhar, M. Kamruzzaman / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 754759
Fig. 1. Photograph view of the experimental set-up for turning steel with
liquid nitrogen.
The effectiveness, efciency and overall economy of
machining any work material by given tools depend largely
only on the machinability characteristics of the toolwork
materials under the recommended condition. Machinabil-
ity is usually judged by (i) pattern and mode of chip
formation (ii) cutting temperature that affects product
quality and cutting tool performance (iii) the magnitude of
the cutting forces which affects power requirement and
vibration, (iv) tool wear and tool life and (v) surface nish
and dimensional deviation. In the present work, cutting
temperature, tool wear, surface nish, and dimensional
deviation are considered for studying the role of cryogenic
cooling.
The average cutting temperature was measured under all
the machining conditions undertaken by a simple but
reliable toolwork thermocouple technique with proper
calibration. The machining was interrupted at regular
intervals to study the growth of wears on main and
auxiliary anks for all the trials. The ank wears were
measured using metallurgical microscope (Carl Zesis,
351396, Germany) tted with micrometer of least count
1 mm. The surface roughness on the job was also monitored
by measuring with a contact type stylus (Surtronic 3+
Roughness Checker, UK). At the end of the tool life, the
cutting inserts were inspected under scanning electron
microscope (Hitachi, S-2600N, Japan) to study the
prevalent wear mechanism. The deviations in the job
diameter before and after cuts were measured by a
precision dial gauge, which traveled parallel to the axis of
the job.
3. Experimental results and discussion
During machining any ductile materials, heat is gener-
ated at the (a) primary deformation zone due to shear and
plastic deformation, (b) chiptool interface due to second-
ary deformation and sliding and (c) worktool interfaces
due to rubbing. All such heat sources produce maximum
temperature at the chiptool interface, which substantially
inuence the chip formation mode, cutting forces and tool
life. Therefore, attempts are made to reduce this detri-
mental cutting temperature. Conventional cutting uid
application may, to some extent, cool the tool and the job
in bulk but cannot cool and lubricate effectively at the
chiptool interface where the temperature is maximum.
This is mainly because the owing chips make mainly bulk
contact with the tool rake surface and may be followed by
elastic contact just before leaving the contact with the tool.
Bulk contact does not allow the cutting uid to penetrate in
the interface. Elastic contact allows slight penetration of
the cutting uid only over a small region by capillary
action. The cutting uid action becomes more and more
ineffective at the interface with the increase in Vc when the
chiptool contact becomes almost fully plastic or bulk.
However, it was observed that the liquid nitrogen jet in
its present way of application enabled reduction of the
average cutting temperature (yavg) by about 1020%
depending upon the levels of the process parameters, Vc
and So. Even such apparently small reduction in the cutting
temperature is expected to have some favorable inuence
on other machinability indices. The cutting temperature
generally increases with the increase in Vc and So, though
in different degree, due to increased energy input and it
could be expected that cryogenic cooling would be more
effective at higher values of Vc and So. But actually it had
been otherwise as shown in Fig. 2.
The cutting tools in conventional machining, particularly
in continuous chip formation processes like turning,
generally fails by gradual wear by abrasion, adhesion,
diffusion, chemical erosion, galvanic action etc. depending
upon the toolwork materials and machining condition.
Tool wear initially starts with a relatively faster rate due to
what is called a break-in wear caused by attrition and
microchipping at the sharp cutting edges.
Cutting tools may also often fail prematurely, randomly
and catastrophically by mechanical breakage and plastic
deformation under adverse machining conditions caused
by intensive pressure and temperature and/or dynamic
loading at the tool tips particularly if the tool material
lacks strength, hot-hardness and fracture toughness.
However, in the present investigations with the tool and
work material and the machining conditions undertaken,
the tool failure mode has been mostly a gradual wear.
Among the aforesaid wears, the principal ank wear is
the most important because it raises the cutting forces and
the related problems. The life of carbide tools, which
mostly fail by wearing, is assessed by the actual machining
time after which the average value (VB) of its principal
ank wear reaches a limiting value of 0.3 mm. Therefore,
attempts should be made to reduce the rate of growth of
ank wear (VB) in all possible ways without much sacrice
in MRR. Fig. 3 clearly shows that average ank wear, VB
decreased substantially by cryogenic cooling. Crater wear
of carbide tools in machining steels particularly at higher
Vc and So occurs by adhesion and diffusion as well as post
abrasion, whereas ank wear occurs mainly by micro-
chipping and abrasion and the increase in Vc and So
adhesion and diffusion also come into picture due to
intimate contact with the work surface at elevated
temperature.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
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900 900
Feed, mm/rev Work material : AISI 4037steel
Work material : AISI 4037steel
Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26 0.10 Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26
Depth of cut : 1.5 mm 0.13 Depth of cut : 1.5 mm

Average interface temperature,C

Average interface temperature,C

850 850

800 800

750 750

700 700

Environment Environment
650 Dry 650 Dry
Feed, mm/rev
Wet Wet
0.16
Cryogenic cooling Cryogenic cooling
0.20
600 600
150 175 200 225 250 275 150 175 200 225 250 275
(a) Cutting Velocity, Vc, m/min (b) Cutting Velocity,Vc, m/min

Fig. 2. Variation in average chiptool interface temperature with Vc under different environments at (a) lower and (b) higher feed.

500 500
Work material : AISI 4037 steel Environment
Work material : AISI 4037 steel
Average auxiliary flank wear, VS, m
450 Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26 450 Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26 Dry
Cutting Velocity : 264 m/min Cutting Velocity : 264 m/min Wet
Average flank wear,VB, m

400 Feed rate : 0.13mm/rev

400
Feed rate : 0.13mm/rev Cryogenic cooling
350 Depth of cut : 1.5 mm 350 Depth of cut : 1.5 mm

300 300
250 250
200 200
150 150
Environment
100 Dry
100
Wet
50 50
Cryogenic cooling
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Machining time, min Machining time, min

Fig. 3. Growth of VB with machining time under different environments Fig. 4. Growth of Vs with machining time under different environments at
at cutting velocity 264 m/min. cutting velocity 264 m/min.

The cause behind reduction in VB observed may observed under any of the three environments due to
reasonably be attributed to substantial reduction in the chemical inertness of alumina and TiCN. The main cutting
cutting temperature by cryogenic cooling, particularly the edge has suffered minor micro-fracturing under dry
jet impinged along the main cutting edge that helped in machining. The coating allowed less crater wear under all
reducing abrasion wear by retaining tool hardness and also the three environments as it acts as good thermal and
adhesion and diffusion types of wear that are highly diffusion barrier. Cryogenic cooling expectedly reduced
sensitive to temperature. Because of such reduction in the main ank and auxiliary ank wear.
rate of growth of ank wear, the tool life would be much The nature and extent of surface roughness in the
higher if cryogenic cooling is properly applied. Auxiliary longitudinal direction of the turned job depend mainly
ank wear (VS), though occurs less intensively, also plays a upon the geometry and condition of the auxiliary cutting
signicant role in machining by aggravating dimensional edge including a part of the rounded nose. The value
inaccuracy and roughness of the nished surface. It of surface roughness increases sharply with the increase
appears from Fig. 4 that auxiliary ank wear (VS) has in feed and decreases with increase in Vc. Built-up
also decreased sizeably due to proper temperature control edge formation and vibration worsen the surface
under cryogenic cooling. further.
Fig. 5 shows the SEM photographs of worn-out insert The results shown in Fig. 6 indicate that surface
used for machining steel bar for 62 min under dry, wet and roughness increased substantially with the increase in feed
cryogenic environments. No notch and groove wear were when machined under all the environments. This can be
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
758 N.R. Dhar, M. Kamruzzaman / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 754759

Fig. 5. SEM views of worn out tip after 62 min of machining under dry, wet and cryogenic cooling conditions: (a) dry machining, (b) wet machining,
(c) cryogenic machining.

10 80
Work material : AISI 4037 steel Work material : AISI 4037 steel Environment
9 Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26 70 Cutting tool : SNMG 120408-26 Dry
Cutting Velocity : 264 m/min Cutting Velocity : 264 m/min Wet
Surface roughness, Ra, m

8
Dimensional deviation, m

Feed rate : 0.13 mm/rev Feed rate : 0.13 mm/rev Cryogenic cooling
60 Depth of cut : 1.5 mm
Depth of cut : 1.5 mm
7
50
6
5 40
4 30
3
Environment 20
2 Dry
Wet 10
1
Cryogenic cooling
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Machining time, min Length of cut, mm

Fig. 6. Surface roughness developed with machining time under different Fig. 7. Variation in change in dimension with cutting-length under
environments at Vc, 264 m/min. different conditions at Vc, 264 m/min.

attributed mainly to the roughness caused by the feed ture by the liquid nitrogen jet that especially impinged
marks as explained earlier. It is also noted that surface along the auxiliary cutting edge.
roughness decreased to some extent with the increase in Vc Cryogenic cooling provided remarkable benet in
possibly due to smoothening of the nose prole by respect of controlling the increase in diameter of the
adhesion and diffusion types wear. nished job with machining time, as can be seen in Fig. 7.
However, surface roughness decreased to some extent, In plain turning, the nished job diameter generally
though in different degree at different Vc and So when the deviates from its desired value with the progress of
job was machined under cryogenic cooling. This can be machining i.e. along the job-length mainly for change in
attributed to reduction in auxiliary ank wear due to the effective depth of cut due to several reasons which
retention of tool hardness through reduction in tempera- include wear of the tool nose, over all compliance of the
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.R. Dhar, M. Kamruzzaman / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 47 (2007) 754759
machinexturetoolwork (MFTW) system and ther- [5] M. Mazurkiewicz, Z. Kubula, J. Chow, Metal machining with high-
mal expansion of the job during machining followed by
cooling. Therefore, if the MFTW system is rigid,
variation in diameter would be governed mainly by the
heat and cutting temperature. With the increase in
temperature, the rate of growth of auxiliary ank wear
and thermal expansion of the job will increase. Cryogenic
cooling takes away the major portion of heat and reduces
the temperature resulting decrease in dimensional deviation
desirably.
4. Conclusions
(i) The cutting performance of cryogenic machining is
better than that of conventional machining with ood
cutting uid supply.
(ii) Cryogenic cooling provides the benets mainly by
substantially reducing the cutting temperature, which
improves the chiptool interaction and maintains
sharpness of the cutting edges.
(iii) Dry machining of steel caused maximum tool wear
and surface roughness and wet machining did not
show appreciable improvement.
(iv) Cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen jets provided
lesser tool wear, better surface nish and higher
dimensional accuracy as compared to dry and wet
machining.
Acknowledgments
This research work has been funded by Directorate of
Advisory Extension and Research Services (DAERS),
Committee for Advanced Studies & Research (CASR),
BUET, Dhaka, Bangladesh, sanction DEARS/CASR/R-
01/2001/D-934 (30) dated 31/12/2004. The authors are also
grateful to the Department of Industrial and Production
Engineering, BUET for providing the facilities to carryout
the experiment.
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