International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163

Volume 1 Issue 8 (September 2014) www.ijirae.com

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2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page -93
Optimization of Cutting Parameters in Hard Turning of AISI
4340 Steel

Basil K Mathew Paul
*
Tina Raju

Dr.

Biju B
PG Scholar, Department of Mechanical Asst. Professor, Department of Associate Professor Department
of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,
Mar Athanasius College of Mar Athanasius College of Mar Athanasius College of
Engineering, Engineering, Engineering,
Kothamangalam, Ernakulam, Kothamangalam, Ernakulam, Kothamangalam, Ernakulam
Kerala, India Kerala, India Kerala, India

Abstract The turning of hardened steels has been applied in many cases in production. It is an important process
because all manufacturers are continually seeking ways to manufacture their parts with lower cost, higher quality,
rapid setups, lower investment, and smaller tooling inventory while eliminating non-value added activities. Currently,
the most important problem is concerned with the properties of the surface finish. This paper investigates the effect on
surface finish and tool wear in a continuous dry turning of hardened steel when using a ceramic wiper tools. This
report describes about the hard turning of AISI 4340 alloy steel by varying various parameters. The hard turning
parameters are: Cutting speed, Feed and Depth of cut. The main objectives of this project, study the effect of
parameters such as cutting speed, feed, depth of cut on surface roughness, tool wear and cutting force during the hard
turning of AISI 4340alloy steel using ceramic wiper tool and the effect of various process parameters on hard tuning
and optimize the cutting parameters. The dry turning experiments were performed on hardened AISI 4340 steel
material using ceramic wiper tool .AISI 4340 steel having hardness: 48 (4852) HRC was used.

Keywords Hard turning, surface roughness, taguchis method.

I. INTRODUCTION
Hard turning attracts great interests since it potentially provides an alternative to conventional grinding process for
machining high hardness, high precision components in small production [1]. During the past few years, unprecedented
progress has been made in the hard turning. The greatest advantage of using hard turning is the reduced machining time
and complexity required to manufacture metal parts.
In order to substitute grinding process and minimize tool wear, cutting parameters in hard turning are generally
adapted for finishing operations [3]. Small depth of cut and low feed rates are chosen to improve finished surface and
reduce the mechanical and thermal impacts on the tools to acceptable limits. Many studies have been conducted to
investigate the performance of ceramics tools in the cutting of various hardened materials. Wiper inserts are increasingly
being utilized during the last years. The influences of the wiper inserts on the surface roughness were described in
turning [2]. While machining, the wiper ceramic performed better in respect to surface roughness and tool wear whereas
the conventional ceramic exhibited less machining force and power.

II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
A. Material, workpiece and tool
AISI 4340 has been selected as work piece Material .It widely used for aircraft landing gear, power transmission gear,
shaft and other parts. The diameter and Length of work piece was 65 mm and 360 mm respectively. Chemical
composition of this material is Carbon 0.38 to 0.48%, Chromium 0.7 to 0.9%, Manganese 0.6 to0.8, Molybdenum 0.2 to
0.3, Nickel 1.65 to 2%, Phosphorus 0.035 max, Silicon 0.15 to0.30%, Sulphur 0.04max.
Ceramic tools reference CC6050WH, CNGA120408S01525WH (ISO) were used to machine the AISI 4340 steel with
a geometry as follows: rake angle -6, 6 clearance angle and 75 approach edge. All ceramic wiper tools are used.

The hard turning of work piece is conducted on centre Lathe with variable feed and speed drive having following
Specifications:
Height of centre: 175 mm, Swing over bed: 350mm, Swing over slide: 190mm, Swing in gap: 550mm, Width of bed:
240mm, Spindle speed NO. 8: 60 To 1025 RPM, Cross slide travel: 200mm, Top slide travel: 125mm, Net weight: 700
kg, Lead screw: 4 TPI, Power required: 1.5W/2H.P, Bed length: 4.5/600mm
The measurements of surface roughness (Ra,) for each cutting condition were obtained from a Surfce tester SJ210
Mitutoyo roughness meter. Tool wear is measured using Metzer tool makers microscope and machining force is
measured using a dynamometer. The measurements were repeated three times out of three generatrices equally
positioned at 120 and the result is an average of these values for a given machining pass.
B. Experimental design
Design of Experiments (DOE) is a powerful statistical technique to study the effect of multiple variables
simultaneously. An experimental plan is produced which tells the experimenter where to set each test parameter for each
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Volume 1 Issue 8 (September 2014) www.ijirae.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page -94
run of the test [6]. The response is then measured for each run. The method of analysis is to look for differences between
response (output) readings for different groups of the input changes. Taguchi developed a method for designing
experiments to investigate how different parameters affect the mean and variance of a process performance characteristic
that defines how well the process is functioning.
In this study, three controllable variables, namely, cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut has been selected. In the
machining parameter design, three levels of the cutting parameters were selected, shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1. Hard turning process parameters

Parameter

Unit
Levels
Response
1 2 3
Cutting speed m/min 100 140 180
1. Surface
roughness
2. Tool wear
3. Cutting force
Feed mm/rev 0.1 0.125 0.15
Depth of cut mm 0.4 0.6 0.8
C. Taguchis Design of Experiment
Taguchi method is a traditional approach for robust experimental design that seeks to obtain a best combination set of
factors/levels with the lowest societal cost solution to achieve customer requirements. Taguchis approach to design of
experiments is easy to adopt and apply for users with limited knowledge of statistics; hence it has gained a wide
popularity in the engineering and scientific community. In the Taguchi design method the design parameters (factors
which can be controlled) and noise factors (factors which cant controlled), which influence product quality, are
considered [5]. The main trust of the Taguchi technique is the use of parameter design, which is an engineering method
for product or process design that focuses on determining the parameter (factor) settings producing the best levels of
quality characteristic with minimum variation. Taguchi design provides a powerful and efficient method for designing
processes that operate consistently and optimally over a variety of conditions. Experimental design methods were
developed in the early of 20
th
century and have been extensively studied by the statistician since then, but they were not
easy to use by practitioners. Taguchi recommended using solutions in metal cutting problems to optimize the parameters.
D. Experimental Procedure
As per table 1, L9 orthogonal array of Taguchi method has been selected for the experiments in MINITAB 16. Each
9 experiments will carry out in dry turning. Surface roughness, tool wear and machining force has been selected as
response variable. All these data are used for the analysis and evaluation of the optimal parameters combination.
Experiment result as shown in Table2. The experimental procedure are, in the following order (1) define the independent
input variables and the desire responses with the design constants, (2) adopt an experimental design plan, (3) perform the
taguchis experimental design, (4) calculate the statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the independent input
variables in order to find which parameter significantly affects the desired response, then, (5)Optimize and conduct
confirmation experiment and verify the predicted performance characteristics[3].
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The Table 2 illustrates the responses of surface roughness, tool wear and machining force. Analyses were done with
ANOVA results for the identifying factors which are affecting the performances. Also the percentage of contribution of
each source to the total variation indicates the degree of influence on the result by each source.
TABLE 2. Details of experiments and results.
Expt.No.
Speed
(m/min)
Feed (mm/rev)
Depth of
Cut (mm)
Surface
roughness
Ra(m)
Tool wear
(mm)
Machining
force
(N)
1 100 0.1 0.4 1.225 0.039 259.42
2 100 0.125 0.6 0.879 0.029 431.27
3 100 0.15 0.8 1.063 0.035 557.01
4 140 0.1 0.8 1.011 0.030 403.00
5 140 0.125 0.4 0.778 0.024 298.98
6 140 0.15 0.6 1.114 0.046 445.83
7 180 0.1 0.6 0.852 0.042 319.77
8 180 0.125 0.8 0.698 0.036 567.58
9 180 0.15 0.4 0.996 0.042 286.31
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
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2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page -95
Taguchis method of analyzing means of the S/N ratio using conceptual approach involves graphical method for
studying the effects and visually identifying the factors that appear to be significant. The rank indicates the dominant
machining parameter.

A. Surface Roughness
In the experiment, the desired characteristic for surface roughness is lower the better.
S/N =-10log (1)
180 140 100
2
1
0
0. 150 0. 125 0. 100
0.8 0.6 0. 4
2
1
0
Acut t ing speed
M
e
a
n

o
f

S
N

r
a
t
i
o
s
feed
Doc
Main Effects Plot for SN ratios
Data Means
Signal-to- noise: Smaller is better

Fig.1 Signal to Noise Plot for surface roughness.

TABLE 3. Response Table for surface roughness S/Noise Ratios (Smaller is better)
Level Cutting speed Feed Doc
1 -0.4221 -0.1709 0.1272
2 0.3621 2.1380 0.3235
3 1.4957 -0.5314 0.9850
Delta 1.9178 2.6693 0.8577
Rank 2 1 3

Table 3 shows the response table of Signal to Noise ratios for surface roughness. Based on this analysis, low surface
roughness is obtained at cutting speed (180m/min), Feed rate (0.125mm/rev), and Depth of cut (0.8mm). In the analysis,
feed is shown as the most influencing parameter followed by cutting speed and depth of cut.

TABLE 4. Analysis of variance for surface roughness
Source
Degrees of
freedom
Sum of
squares
Mean of
squares
F
P
% contribution
Cutting speed 2 5.5779 2.7889 8.05
0.111
27.79
Feed 2 12.5860 6.2930 18.16 0.052 62.71
Doc 2 1.2117 0.6059 1.75 0.364 6.03
Error 2 0.6931 0.3466

3.45
Total 8 20.0687

100

The ANOVA results in Table 4 the percentage contribution of various factors to surface roughness is identifiable. Here,
feed rate is the most influencing factor followed by cutting speed. The percentage contribution of feed rate and cutting
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Volume 1 Issue 8 (September 2014) www.ijirae.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page -96
speed towards surface roughness is 62.71% and 27.79% respectively. Also Doc is which indicates that Doc has least
contribution towards surface roughness.
The optimal combination is:
Cutting speed =180m/min
Feed rate =0.125mm/rev
Doc =0.8mm

Regression equation
Regression equation is:
Ra =1.42 - 0.00259 Cutting speed +0.57 Feed - 0.286 Depth of cut

B. Tool Wear
The desired signal to noise ratio for tool wear is to be lower the better, equation (1).

180 140 100
31
30
29
28
0. 150 0. 125 0. 100
0. 8 0. 6 0. 4
31
30
29
28
cut t ing speed
M
e
a
n

o
f

S
N

r
a
t
i
o
s
Feed
Doc
Main Effects Plot for SN ratios
Data Means
Signal- to- noise: Smaller is better

Fig.2. Signal to Noise Plot for Tool Wear
TABLE 5. Response table for tool wear
Level Speed Feed Doc
1 29.36 28.69 29.34
2 29.76 30.63 28. 26
3 27.90 27.69 29.42
Delta 1.86 2.93 1.15
Rank 2 1 3
Table 5. Show the response table of Signal to Noise ratios for Tool wear. Based on this analysis, low surface roughness is
obtained at cutting speed (140m/min), feed rate (0.125mm/rev), and depth of cut (0.8mm). In the analysis, feed is shown as the most
influencing parameter followed by speed and depth of cut.
TABLE 6. Aanalysis of variance for tool wear
Source
Degrees of
freedom
Sum of
squares
Mean of
squares
F P
% of
contribution
Cutting Speed 2 5.726 2.863 0.88 0.533 20.39
Feed 2 13.331 60665 2.04 0.329 47.47
Depth of cut 2 2.502 1.251 0.38 0.723 8.90
Error 2 6.526 3.263

23.24
Total 8 28.085

100.00

International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Volume 1 Issue 8 (September 2014) www.ijirae.com

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The ANOVA results in Table 6 shows the percentage contribution of various factors to Tool wear is identifiable. Here,
Feed rate is the most influencing factor. The percentage contribution of feed rate towards tool wear is 47.47%. The
parameters which have least contribution towards tool wear are cutting speed (20.39%) and depth of cut (8.90%).

The optimal combination obtained as :
Cutting speed =140 m/min
Feed =0.125mm
Depth of cut =0.8mm
Regression equation
The regression equation is:
Tool wear =0.0172 +0.000074 cutting speed +0.082 Feed - 0.0031 Depth of cut
C. Machining force
In the experiment, the desired characteristic for surface roughness is lower the better.

S/N =-10log (2)
Machining force: F
m
=
c
2
+F
f
2
+F
t
2
) (3)
Where,
Fc: Cutting force,
Ft: Radial force,
Fr: Feed force
Unit of machining force (N)
180 140 100
-50
-52
-54
0. 150 0.125 0.100
0.8 0.6 0. 4
-50
-52
-54
speed
M
e
a
n

o
f

S
N

r
a
t
i
o
s
feed
doc
Main Effects Plot for SN ratios
Data Means
Signal- to-noise: Smaller is better

Fig.3. Signal to Noise Plot for Machining Force.

TABLE 7. Response table for Machining Force
Level Cutting speed Feed Depth of cut
1 -51.96 -50.16 -48.98
2 -51.53 -52.43 -51.93
3 -51.44 -52.35 -54.03
Delta 0.53 2.27 5.06
Rank 3 2 1

Table 7 shows the response table of Signal to Noise ratios for machining force. Based on this analysis, high
machining force is obtained at Depth of cut (0.4 mm), Feed rate (0.1 mm/rev), and speed (180 m/min). In the analysis,
depth of cut is the most influencing parameter followed by feed and cutting speed.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
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TABLE 8. Analysis of variance for machining force.
Source
Degrees of
freedom
Sum of
squares
Mean of
squares
F P
% of
contribution
Cutting speed 2 0.4710 0.2355 0.45 0.690 0.93
Feed 2 9.9260 4.9630 9.46 0.096 19.78
Depth of cut 2 38.7277 19.3639 36.92 0.026 77.19
Error 2 1.0489 0.5245
Total 8 50.1736
The ANOVA results in Table 8.shows the percentage contribution of various factors to machining force is identifiable.
Here, Depth of cut is the most influencing factor followed by feed. The percentage contribution of depth of cut and
towards machining force is 77.19% and 19.78% respectively. Also the F value of cutting speed is much more than that of
table value (4.46) which indicates that it has least contribution towards machining force.
The optimal combination is:
Cutting speed =180m/min
Feed =0.1mm/rev
Depth of cut =0.4mm
Regression equation
The regression equation is:
Machining Force =232 - 0.31 cutting speed +2046 feed - 81 Depth of cut

IV. CONCLUSIONS
From the experiments, it is found that the surface roughness is significantly influenced by feed and cutting speed;
however depth of cut has very less effect during hard turning of AISI 4340 alloy steel. Most optimal hard turning
parameter over the selected range of hard turning parameters were obtained from Taguchi analysis using signal to noise
ratio as cutting speed (180 m/min), feed (0.125mm/rev), and depth of cut (0.8mm).

It is found that for toll wear during hard turning of AISI 4340 alloy steel, feed has significant influence and depth of
cut is the least influential of all. Based on ANOVA, the optimal condition is obtained at cutting speed (140 m/min), feed
(0.125mm/rev), and depth of cut (0.8mm).

During the study of cutting force in hard turning of the AISI 4340, it was found that depth of cut and feed are the most
influencing parameters. The effect of cutting speed on the cutting force in the hard turning is negligible. Based on the
analysis the optimal condition is obtained are cutting speed (180 m/min), (0.1 mm/rev), and depth of cut (0.4 mm).

There is further scope of study in the hard turning of AISI 4340 by expanding the range of hard turning parameters
beyond the selected range of values in this work and application of proper cooling mechanism.


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