Experimental Study of Tool Wear Evolution during Turning Operation Based on DWT and RMS

In cutting process, the wear of the tool remains posed, it describes their progressive failure in regular operation. The tool wear phenomena is mainly caused by abrasion of hard particles, shearing of micro welds between tool and work-material and the exchange of particles between the tool and work material leading to a several forms of tool wear, however, we focused in this study on the frontal wear, also called wear on clearance surface or flank wear. For efficient use of cutting tool according to the technical requirement, the comprehension and the knowledge of the cutting tool wear evolution is necessary. In order to meet this indispensable need, the present paper proposes a two-step tool flank wear monitoring technique based on vibratory signals analysis during the turning operation using a P30 grade metal carbide tool and C45 (XC48) steel. Firstly, discrete wavelet transforms (DWT), has been used to decompose the signal and extract the information, then the scalar indicator Root Mean Square (RMS) value has been used to evaluate the cutting tool stability level. The proposed method offers the possibility to accurately predict break-in tool wear phase, accelerated tool wear phase and the stability period, in which a high quality machining process is guaranteed.