Relationship between surface roughness and chip morphology when turning hardened steel

Abstract Hard machining is a process which has become highly recommended in manufacturing industry to replace grinding and perform production. The important technological parameters that determine this process are tool wear, machined surface roughness, cutting force and morphology of the removed chip. In this work, an attempt has been made to analyse the morphology and form of chip removed during turning of hardened steel AISI 1045 (40HRC) with mixed ceramic tool type CC650. Using a Taguchi plan L9, whose factors are cutting speed and feed rate with three levels for each. Macroscopic and microscopic results of chip morphology were correlated with these two cutting parameters additional to surface roughness. Sufficient experimental results were obtained using the mixed ceramic tool when turning of hardened steel AISI 1045 (40HRC) at high cutting speeds. Roughness of machined surface confirmed that it is influenced by feed rate. Chips show a sawtooth shape for all combinations of the experimental plan used. The chip form changed with cutting parameters variation and given an important indicator of suraface quality for industriel. Having the indicators on the surface quality from simple control of chip without stopping machining give an important advantage in order to maximize production and reduce costs.