Laser tempering based turning process for efficient machining of hardened AISI 52100 steel

Cost-effective machining of hardened steel components such as a large wind turbine bearing has traditionally posed a significant challenge. This paper presents an approach to machine hardened steel parts efficiently at higher material removal rates and lower tooling cost. The approach involves a two-step process consisting of laser tempering of the hardened workpiece surface followed by conventional machining at higher material removal rates with lower cost ceramic tools to efficiently remove the tempered material. The laser scanning parameters that yield the highest depth of tempered layer are obtained from a kinetic phase change model. Machining experiments are performed to demonstrate the possibility of higher material removal rates and improved tool wear behavior compared to the conventional hard turning process. Tool wear performance, cutting forces, and surface finish of Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) tools as well as low cost ceramic tools are compared in machining of hardened AISI 52100 steel (~63 HRC). In addition, cutting forces and surface finish are compared for the laser tempering based turning and conventional hard turning processes. Experimental results show the potential benefits of the laser tempering based turning process over the conventional hard turning process.     

Process capability study of laser assisted micro milling of a hard-to-machine material

Laser assisted micro milling (LAMM) is capable of generating three-dimensional micro scale features in hard-to-machine materials. This paper compares the process capability of LAMM with conventional micro milling of a hardened tool steel. In particular, the potential advantages of LAMM over micro milling with respect to cutting forces, tool wear, material removal rate, burr formation and surface roughness are investigated when micro milling hardened A2 tool steel (62 HRC). The results show that LAMM has significant advantages over micro milling, especially in terms of cutting forces, material removal rate and tool wear. The average reduction in the resultant cutting force is found to be up to 69% with laser assist. In addition, tool wear is found to be substantially less with laser assist even when the material removal rates are increased by a factor of six over the tool manufacturer recommended cutting conditions.     

An experimental technique to detect tool–workpiece contact in micromilling

There is a need for simple, accurate, and low-cost techniques to detect tool–workpiece contact (or tool touch-off) in micromilling operations. This paper presents a method that is based on monitoring changes in the power spectral characteristics of the spindle vibration signal. The accuracy of this contact detection method is evaluated under different conditions by measuring the overshoot of the tool into the workpiece surface. Specifically, the effects of tool geometry, workpiece surface roughness and hardness, tool wear, step size, and contact detection threshold on the overshoot are analyzed through experiments carried out on a 3-axis micromilling machine. The results show that the method is capable of sub-micron contact detection accuracy depending on the workpiece hardness, roughness, and contact detection threshold.