Investigation on influence of micro-textured tool in machining of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The low thermal conductivity of titanium alloys, Ti-6Al-4V in specific causes high temperature generation at the tool-chip interface during machining, thus making machining challenging. In view of developing a better heat transfer mechanism at the tool-chip interface, dimple textures have been generated on the rake face of the cutting tool. A comparison was made in terms of cutting force, temperature, shear angle, friction angle, tool-chip contact length, friction coefficient, chip morphology and tool life between commercial and dimple textured tool. Dimple textured tool outperformed the commercial tools in terms of the response parameters. Textures brought about a reduction of 4 %–38 % in cutting forces while a maximum temperature reduction of 20 % was observed at the tool-chip interface. An increase in shear angle by 4–9 % was observed for textured tools when compared to commercial tools. The chip morphology revealed chips with smaller curl radius were generated when machining using textured tools. An increase in tool life by 60 % was observed for textured tools when compared to commercial tools. Reduction in tool-chip contact length by 15 % was attributed to the performance of dimple textured tool.