Surface Integrity in Turning of Annealed Brass: Hardness Prediction

The purpose of this study was to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the effects of cutting parameters (depth of cut, feed rate, and cutting speed) on the surface integrity of, in terms of superficial hardening, annealed brass during a turning process. The results indicate that no significant phase transformations occurred for any of the turning conditions evaluated; however, microstructural changes were observed, as well as changes in the superficial hardness were measured. It was found that when the studied cutting parameters increase, the superficial hardness increases, with the cutting speed having less influence (2.56%), and feed rate having the greatest effect (22.67%). Finally, a mathematical expression is proposed, which relates the cutting parameters to the maximum hardness obtained for a given cutting condition.