Necessity of multidimensional evaluation of the high-speed ball-end milled surface of hardened AISI D2 steel from a wear resistance perspective

This paper focuses on revealing the anisotropy of surface integrity and wear resistance of high-speed ball-end milled surfaces of hardened cold work die steel AISI D2. Dry milling tests were performed on a five-axis high-speed machining center by using a two-edged coated solid carbide ball-end milling cutter. Then, wear resistance of a hard milled surface was evaluated through block-on-ring wear tests under unlubricated condition. Results showed that ball-end milled surfaces present anisotropic characteristics in terms of surface topography, subsurface microhardness, and yield strength. Moreover, the wear resistance for ball-end milled surfaces shows dependence on sliding direction because of the anisotropy of surface integrity. Benefiting from surface work hardening, wear loss for the hard milled surface was at least 62% less than that for polished ones in the initial wear stage (10 min). However, the subsurface softening zone induced by a high-speed hard milling process has poor wear resistance due to the decrease of microhardness and yield strength. This study indicates the necessity of multidimensional evaluation for high-speed ball-end milled surfaces and the possibility of improving wear behavior by selecting appropriate sliding direction.