Article by: Tungaloy Cutting Tool (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
In a cutting tools world, chip breaker is a very important part that can decide the quality of workpiece. But most people are rarely aware or know about how important the chip breaker is. Today Tungaloy will lead and explain to you about chip breaker’s geometries and its property through this content and make sure that you can find greatest solutions for your machining needs. Chip control issues are common problems in finishing, semi-finishing, and machining with variable depths of cut in the turning operations of ductile steels and super alloys. Most inserts have chip breaker geometry to control chips in the turning process.
How are chips actually broken? Grooved type chip breakers near the cutting edge make the chips curl and discharge quickly. If chips can be broken into suitable lengths by the chip breaker, they will not wrap around the workpiece, vibration will decrease and tools will not be so easily damaged. Chip breakers also affect cutting resistance. Reduced cutting resistance can avoid chipping and fracturing of the cutting edge caused by vibration. Additionally, lower cutting resistance can decrease the load and heat, and can delay the development of tool wear.
For a selection of chip breaker; there are several factors that shall be considered over. For example, material of workpieces such as steel, stainless steel or superalloys. Cutting condition also plays an important role as another factor to consider. It is cutting speed (Vc – m/min), Feed (f: mm/rev) and depth of cut (ap : mm). Lastly, each workpiece also needs different control of surface quality, for instance, roughing or finishing surface. In summary, all of the factors make the difference in cutting condition and it is better to choose wisely and carefully about chip breaker in order to optimize the workpiece result and cutting performance.
Consideration from each type of chip breaker, it plays a different role in each work condition. If we understand and select the right chip breaker into its right job. It apparently improves cutting process, saves time and enhances work efficiency. Most important is customer’s workpiece is exactly what customer orders.