Development and experimental investigation of duplex turning process

The aim of the present study was to develop a novel turning process with the simultaneous application of two cutting tools in place of a single cutting tool during machining of rotating surfaces. This process is referred to as duplex turning, and is used to eliminate the need for a secondary final cut operation following the turning process. To achieve this, a secondary (auxiliary) tool post is mounted on the cross slide of the centre lathe machine after fabrication. The secondary tool post is used to hold a secondary cutting tool that penetrates the workpiece from opposite side of the primary cutting tool to perform the finish cut operation during turn machining of the cylindrical workpiece. The performance of the developed process was tested on AISI 1040 alloy steel, using two single point cutting tools made of high speed steel. The effects of cutting velocity, feed rate, primary depth of cut and secondary depth of cut were analyzed and discussed with regard to average surface roughness, and were also compared with normal turning process. From the results, it was concluded that duplex turning process was capable of providing better surface finishes compared to those generated by normal turning. It was also found that higher cutting velocity yielded better surface finishes within the determined ranges of the selected parameters.