The effect of high-pressure cutting fluid on chip breaking and tool life in turning of nickel-base alloys

In turning of nickel-base alloys with carbide tools, the tool life is short, and the chip breakage is often unsatisfactory. The paper describes machining tests with a high-pressure coolant system with coolant jets directed at both the rake face and the flank face of the cutting tool. In semi-finish and finish turning of Waspaloy efficient chip breaking is achieved by using high-pressure coolant of 8 to 20 MPa. In finish turning at low cutting speed the tool life is moderately improved when high-pressure coolant is applied. At high cutting speed the tool life is significantly improved.