DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-LUBRICATING CUTTING TOOLS FOR MACHINING, COMPOSED OF WC-CO ALLOY AND SOLID LUBRICANTS
Cutting Tools, Spark Plasma Sintering, Solid Lubricant
The use of cutting fluids in machining processes is a widespread practice, however the environmental aspect disadvantages its application, the use and disposal of this material at the end of its life, harms the environment. In order to reduce environmental damage, dry cutting and minimal fluid cutting techniques have been employed in some machining operations. This work aims to develop self-lubricating cutting tools for machining, and its application in dry machining operations. The tools will be produced through the technique Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), which has the characteristics of consolidating powder structures through the simultaneous application of pressure and temperature. This technique densifies structures at lower temperatures and shorter times than conventional sintering techniques. The self-lubrication of the tools will occur by the introduction of solid lubricants, in different concentrations in their composition. The solid lubricants used will be Molybdenum Disulphide (MoS2) and Graphite (C), materials that present low shear stress, which characterize them as solid lubricants. Cylindrical samples with the compositions to be studied were sintered and characterized. Hardness, compression and wear tests were performed on the samples to identify the best concentrations. The results of the mechanical tests show that, among the compositions with MoS2, the highest hardness found was 1134 HV, while for compositions with C it was 1578 HV. The modulus of elasticity of the tested samples reached values up to 870 GPa, within the range of hard metals. The characterization of the wear was performed using turning tests where some compositions had a useful lifetime above 20 minutes, with a maximum value for the lateral wear of the samples. For the conclusion of the testing stage we intend to sinter samples with geometries of cutting tools, with the compositions that presented better results in the mechanical tests, to perform dry machining tests and chemically characterize the samples and to be able to identify possible mechanisms that have influenced the results already found.