Influence of the Material Production Route on the Material Properties and the Machinability of the Lead-Free Copper-Zinc-Alloy CuZn40 (CW509L)

To improve the machinability properties of CuZn-alloys, these are alloyed with the element lead. Due to its toxicity, a variety of legislative initiatives aim to reduce the lead content in CuZn-alloys, which results in critical machinability problems and a reduction in the productivity of machining processes. Basically, there are two ways to solve the critical machinability problems when machining lead-free CuZn-alloys: optimizing the machinability of lead-free materials on the material side or adapting the processes and the respective process parameters. In this study, the focus is on material-side machinability optimization by investigating the influence of a targeted variation in the process chain in the material production route. To evaluate the influence of the material production route, the brass alloy CuZn40 (CW509L) was produced in four variants by varying the degree of work hardening and the use of heat treatments, and all four variants were evaluated in terms of their machinability. To evaluate the machinability, the cutting force components, the chip temperature, the chip formation, and the chip shape were analyzed. Clear influences of the material production route were identified, particularly with regard to the chip formation mechanisms and the resulting chip shape.