Fundamental Investigations in Tool Wear and Characteristics of Surface Microstructure for Ultrasonic Vibration Superimposed Machining of Heat-Treated X46Cr13 Steel Using Different Cutting Materials

The importance of functional surfaces is continuously growing in the context of increasing demands on the sustainability of performance, resource efficiency and manufacturing costs of technical systems. For example, microstructured substrate surfaces can contribute to enhance the adhesion of layers, which in turn ensure the wear protection of a highly loaded component. Many microstructuring processes require a system change, entailing high costs. However, the ultrasonic vibration superimposed machining (UVSM) can be implemented as a finishing process. Due to its defined cutting-edge geometry and kinematics, UVSM represents a suitable method for a reliable generation of predefined surface microstructures. In order to optimize the process regarding the tool wear behavior and thus the geometrical characteristics of the surface microstructure, experimental investigations are carried out to find the most suitable combination of heat treatment condition of the martensitic stainless-steel X46Cr13 and various cutting materials. A vibration system for workpiece-side excitation is used for the experimental cutting tests. The most promising results were obtained within the combination of cemented carbide as a cutting tool and soft annealing as a heat treatment condition. They serve as a base for extensive investigations on the effects of substrate microstructuring to the adhesion of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond layers to steel.