END MILLING OF Ti-6Al-4V ALLOY BY PCD INSERTS WITH LASER-MACHINED INTEGRAL CHIPBREAKER

Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is becoming more available cutting material due to developing technologies, but it is still one of the difficult-to-cut materials. Nowadays, sharpening of diamond inserts is usually performed using unconventional machining methods, where the high hardness of the material is not a deciding factor. Apart from electrical technology (WEDM or EDM-G), PCD is also sharpened by laser technology. The production of integral chipbreaker on the rake face of the PCD insert is an advantage of laser technology, in comparison with other technologies. In this research, three types of chipbreakers were designed and used in a real machining process. This was carried out on the workpiece material Ti-6Al-4V alloy, which is generally used in the transport industries and medicine, but still presents great challenges in its machining. Influence of the individual types of integral chipbreakers compared also to the normal PCD insert, which had a polished rake plane, was investigated. This was based on the force loading and the integrity of the machined surface. Wear of the inserts, images from electron microscope were also included in the analysis.