Cutting with broach

You can find here some notices about broaching operation.

Fig.N1
Amount of cut per tooth
This parameter depends on many characteristic of broaching operation like:

Material of the broach

Material of workpiece (resistance and machinability)

Diameter and length of workpiece

Minimum section of the broach

Power available on broaching machine
The amount of cut per tooth (radial) is calculated by =

Where the values of Ks in function of the material of workpiece are shown in the table N1.
Tab. N1 . Specific cutting strength Ks in Kg/mm
Workpiece material
Ks
2
Steel with R = 90 - 115 Kg/mm
500
2
Steel with R = 70 90 Kg/mm
400
2
Steel with R = 50 - 70 Kg/mm
315
2
Steel with R = 50 Kg/mm
250
Soft steel
200

Workpiece material
Hard cast iron
Normal cast iron and hard bronze
Malleable cast iron and soft bronze
Brass
Aluminium alloy

Ks
160
125
100
80
63

The value of Kd in function of the type of broach and the workpiece material are shown in
the following table N2
Tab. N2 . Specific load Kd in Kg per mm of length of cutting edge
Workpiece material
Broach type
Steel
Soft cast iron
Hard cast iron
Bronze and brass
Round
12,5
10
Spline
16
12,5
Groove
20
16
Flat
25
20

Aluminium alloy
8
10
12,5
16

At last the table N3 shows the values of =

(radial)

Tab. N3. Maximum values of i (radial) in function of Kd e Ks

500
400
315
250
200
160
125
100
80
63

0,016
0,020
0,025
0,0315
0,040
0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125

0,020
0,025
0,0315
0,040
0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125
0,160

0,025
0,0315
0,040
0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125
0,160
0,200

(values in mm)
16
0,0315
0,040
0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125
0,160
0,200
0,250

20

25

0,040
0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125
0,160
0,200
0,250
--

0,050
0,063
0,080
0,100
0,125
0,160
0,200
----

If the pre-broaching
broaching bore is very irregular, like shown in figure N2,, its better to share the
total amount of material to remove in 4 steps; for example:

Zone A : remove the material with a very high value of i ( 0,08 015 mm);

Zone B : the value of i must be 1,5 2 times the normal value;

Zone C : the value of i must be 1,2 1,5 times the normal value;

Zone D : removing with the normal value of i .

Irregular bore

Fig. N2
Flat broaches
Surface broaching also has commonality to internal broach.
Pitch and the amount of cut per tooth are decided in consideration of cutting length,
broaching machine and accuracy required.
Strength seldom becomes a problem because surface broach is seldom controlled by size
like internal broach is.
The broach which cut a wide plane should adopted helical teeth. Since
Since helical tooth cuts
continuously, a good finishing surface can be obtained.
Practically the helix angle is ever between 5 to 20, because it is not good to have too
much large helix angle, since it increases lateral pressure.
Helical tooth is not suitable
le for deep flute cutting because chip is pressed against one side
of the flute and damages the finishing surface.

Cutting action
An operator can freely select depth of cut and feed rate, however, the amount of material
removed by one cutting tooth of broach, equivalent for these is decided when designing.
All that an operator can change is cutting speed.
Chip in a normal cutting operation, like turning, hobbing or shaving, is removed as soon as
it is generated, whereas in broaching, chip from all cutting length must be accommodated
in the chip room.
Therefore, the size of chip room is an important point. When designing, a suitable chip
room for cutting length is adopted.
Therefore, if material, which is longer than designated length on the drawing, is to be cut,
chip gets stuck in the chip room. It may end up in remarkably bad finishing surface and
causes cutting tooth chipping and breakage.
Length of chip that broach generates is always shorter than cutting length, and its about
0,5 0,25 of cutting length.
Oppositely thickness of chip increases by 2 to 4 fold. Thickness of chip varies due to rake
angle, material to be processed, cutting edge, cutting speed, and the cutting oil.
The figure N3 shows the shape of normal chip generated by a well designed broach.

Fig. N3
When cutting edge meshes with work material and start shearing, removed chip slips up
along the tooth face, just like others cutting tools.
Then when cutting edge further progresses shorn chip will weld to front chip and will make
a layer of parallelogram.
These chips overlap one after another and create a single bound chip.
Rake angle applied for a broach range from 5 to 25 depending on condition.
When chip is generated, an angle is formed with the direction of progress and the shearing
surface where chip slips. This is called shear angle. This angle plays an important role in
cutting resistance and cutting mechanism.
The smaller this angle is, the longer shearing surface becomes and the thicker chip
becomes. Ultimately cutting resistance grows.
On the contrary, the larger shear angle is, the shorter shearing surface becomes and
thinner the chip becomes, then cutting resistance decreases. See figure N4.

 = large shear angle

Fig.N4
1 = small shear angle
t1 = thick chip
s1 = long shearing surface

The best shape of chip is a swirl rolling well, and chips from material with toughness form
chip shape.
Rolling chip varies according to hardness of work material, amount of cutting by one tooth,
cutting length, chemicals elements etc.
Generally soft material creates larger rolling diameter than hard material. Since chip from
fragile material like cast iron does nor curl and is not bulky, chip room with small capacity
can handle it.
The figure N5 shows chip freely curling, we can see that the diameter of chip is very
large.

Fig. N5
The figure N6 shows chip in insufficient chip room, we can see that the chip are
compressed, with a danger for the broach tooth.
The figure N6a shows a normal chip in a well designed chip room and the figure N6b
shows a deformed chip due to irregularity of chip room generated by a bad resharpening
operation.

Fig. N6
Wall thickness
In internal broaching operation, wall thickness of workpiece sometimes slightly influences
the final accuracy of hole diameter and roundness.
While broaching work material expands due to back force, causing elastic and plastic
deformation.
However, when broaching ends, it recovers to almost original by elastic recovery (spring
back). When deformation is larger, some part may remain as plastic deformation.
The degree of this recovery greatly depends on wall thickness of the workpiece.
For example, even when same broach are used for processing, workpiece with a thinner
wall will have a small hole diameter compared with a workpiece with a thicker wall.
In addition, when wall thickness of material changes along into the direction of
circumference or cutting, it will obtain a hole with roundness error or with a different
diameter in each section.
Cutting oil
The cutting oil greatly influences life of the broach. The following is its main purpose of
use.

To improve finishing surface

To improve size accuracy

To control wear of cutting edge

To remove chip and clean the working area
Broaching is a low speed cutting, normally 2 8 m/min or in modern machine 15 40
m/mm or more, therefore rise of cutting temperature remain little, compared with other
processing methods.
Cutting oil does not easily infiltrate blade tip in cutting processing because relief angle is
reduced from the point of view of regrinding. It gets even more difficult for oil to come in as
cutting progress. So that generation of chip, roughness of finishing surface and processing
accuracy present a complex aspect.
To solve this various problem selecting the most appropriate cutting oil is an important
point. Its important that the cutting oil have inside the EP additive (Extreme Pressure
additive).
It should not forget that if cutting oil is mixed with water, lubricant and light oil, finishing
surface may be extremely bad and abnormal wear may be caused.