Chamfer texturing of tungsten carbide inserts applied to turning of grey cast iron

Owing to the relevance of the turning operation to the metal working industry, intensive research is constantly undertaken in order to improve the quality of manufactured products, optimise production time, and reduce costs. Among the investigated topics, texturing of the cutting tool rake face has received increasing attention since it can affect tool life, process forces, and cutting temperature. The contribution of the present work resides in depicting the procedure for laser texturing the cutting edge chamfer of uncoated tungsten carbide inserts aiming at weakening the stability of the seizure region. Moreover, the performance of textured and non-textured tools was assessed when turning grey cast iron. Two parallel columns of dimples with an average diameter of 40 μm and variable distance between rows of dimples (60, 100, and 200 μm) were produced and the turning experiments were carried out dry and with the application of minimal quantity lubrication (MQL). The findings indicated that the lowest values for the turning force components were obtained when cutting with textured tools possessing dimples 100 μm apart and using MQL. Texturing did not affect tool life in dry turning; however, when cutting with MQL, the longest tool lives were obtained using the tools textured with dimples 60 and 100 μm apart. Finally, machined surface roughness was not affected by tool texturing and decreased slightly with the application of MQL.