Effects of the infeed method on thread turning of AISI 304L stainless steel

Thread turning requires special attention in order to produce precise threaded parts with low tool wear and high productivity. This is even more critical for components of austenitic stainless steel due to its poor machinability. This paper investigates the influence of the infeed method on thread turning of AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel taking into account tool life, microhardness of the threaded surfaces and the temperature during the process measured by infrared thermography. The results showed that the temperature significantly increases as the tool wear progresses. Tool life was limited by high tool nose wear, which caused deviations of the thread profile. The highest temperatures were found during machining with the radial infeed followed by the flank infeed. The use of incremental infeed resulted in lower temperatures, higher tool life and reduced surface hardening depth.