Abstract—The quality of a product is partly a function of its surface finish. This work considers the investigation of the surface roughness of a hardened tool steel during face milling operation. The design of experiment was carried out using the Taguchi approach and this was validated via physical experimentations. The physical experiments were carried out on Deckel Maho milling machine using a SANDVIK indexable cutting tool (R390-11 T3 08M-PM 1010) on a 2379 tool steel for press tools. The process parameters considered were the cutting speed, feed per tooth and depth of cut under different cutting conditions, which includes air-cooling and soluble oil cooling. The results obtained indicate that cutting operations under soluble oil cooling condition gave a better surface finish as compared to the cutting operations under air-cooling. The optimum combination of the process parameters, which produced the least surface roughness under the air cooling and soluble oil cooling conditions, are: cutting speed (125 m/min), feed per tooth (0.08 mm) and depth of cut (0.5 mm). It is envisaged that this study will assist machinists in the process design of machining operations for the development of products with good surface integrity.

Index Terms—surface roughness, surface finish, cutting operation, tool steel

Cite: Solomon Phokobye, Dawood Desai, Isaac Tlhabadira, Rotimi Sadiku, and Ilesanmi Daniyan, "Investigating the Surface Roughness of Hardened Tool Steel (2379) during Face Milling Operation," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 22-30, January 2022. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.1.22-30

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