Performance of wiper geometry carbide tools in face milling of AISI 1045 steel

In recent years, the increase in technological advances in the metalworking industry enabled the development of new tools and machining processes, which guarantee high quality of the machined part and long tool life. Among the machining processes, milling has been extensively used in the finishing of the automotive industry components. It is known that the surface of the machined workpiece obtained using milling display many irregularities caused by grooves or marks left by the tool during the cutting process. In this context, wiper geometry inserts are very useful for reducing surface roughness. Therefore, this work analyzed the influence of the relationship between the length of the parallel land of the secondary cutting edge and the feed per tooth (bs/fz) on the surface roughness of the AISI 1045 steel in face milling process. During the tests, standard geometry inserts were used together with wiper geometry inserts on a milling cutter, in order to reduce the surface roughness and to increase the material removal rate. Furthermore, the vibration signal was monitored. In the cutter assembly with only standard geometry inserts, the minimum workpiece average roughness Ra was obtained with a feed per tooth of 0.30 mm, while the assemblies with one and two wiper inserts presented the minimum roughness with feed per tooth of 0.83 mm. The main conclusion of this work was that the use of cutter assembly with 1 wiper geometry insert achieves a low roughness, a large material removal rate and a long tool life in the milling process.