Some Controlled Metal-Cutting Studies With Resulfurized Steels

Cutting tests, including controlled tool-chip contact area and controlled artificial flank wear-land studies, were made with five resulfurized steels having nearly identical strength properties. It was found that the dynamic shear stress was 62,700 psi and appeared to be identical for all steels at the two cutting speeds of 356 and 936 fpm with sulfur contents of the alloys ranging from 0.11 to 0.37 per cent. For the low sulfur steel (S = 0.033 per cent), the dynamic shear stress was found to be 72,000 psi. A comparison of the effective stresses obtained from compression tests with those from metal cutting tests showed good correlation at equal strains. The controlled tool-chip contact area and the controlled wear-land studies at feeds of approximately 0.005 ipr and cutting speeds of 318 to 356 fpm appear to indicate that sublayer plastic flow at the tool chip and tool work interfaces was essentially absent.