This thesis is meant to serve as part of a competence platform for future product development projects at Sandvik Coromant AB, Solid Round Tools Department, Västberga, Sweden. The project objective is to gain generic knowledge of the wear mechanisms that restrict tool lifetime when drilling austenitic stainless steel. Thus, identifying if the weakest link of the tool is located within the coating, the coating adherence or in the strength of the substrate. A theoretical review of the work-piece and tool materials has been conducted as a background, along with definition of tool geometry and process parameters. Furthermore, the review includes chemical and process design effect on mechanical properties of the austenitic stainless steel, TiAlN coatings and cemented carbide substrates. Additionally, the basic principles of the wear mechanisms and wear types that are specific to drilling have been reviewed. During the experimental procedures both solid and exchangeable tip drills from cemented carbide with multilayered PVD TiAlN coatings were tested. Two series of tests were conducted, the first series aimed to identify wear type dependency on cutting speed, focusing on wear of the tool margin. The second test series was performed to map the wear progression depending on distance. Analyses including identification the main wear mechanism, quantification the amount of wear, identify wear location on the tool, crack investigation and WDS analysis of chemical wear. Adhesive coating wear was found on the tool margin at an early stage. The adhesive wear rapidly progressed into a stable intermediate stage. Leaving the substrate exposed and more susceptible to other wear types resulting in crack and oxide layer formation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Zhijian Pei / Titanium alloy is one of the most important materials used in major segments of industries such as aerospace, automobile, sporting goods, medical and chemical. Market survey has stated that the titanium shipment in the USA has increased significantly in last two decades, indicating its increased usage. Industries are always under tremendous pressure to meet the ever-increasing demand to lower cost and improve quality of the products manufactured from titanium alloy. Similar to titanium alloys, silicon carbide and dental ceramics are two important materials used in many applications. Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) is a non-traditional machining process that combines the material removal mechanisms of diamond grinding and ultrasonic machining. It comprises of a tool mounted on a rotary spindle attached to a piezo-electric transducer to produce the rotary and ultrasonic motion. No study has been reported on RUM of titanium alloy, silicon carbide and dental ceramics. The goal of this research was to provide new knowledge of machining these hard-to-machine materials with RUM for further improvements in the machining cost and surface quality. A thorough research has been conducted based on the feasibility study, effects of tool variables, effects of machining variables and wheel wear mechanisms while RUM of titanium alloy. The effects of machining variables (such as spindle speed, feed rate, ultrasonic vibration power) and tool variables (grit size, diamond grain concentration, bond type) have been studied on the output variables (such as cutting force, material removal rate, surface roughness, chipping size) and the wheel wear mechanisms for titanium alloy. Feasibility of machining silicon carbide and dental ceramics is also conducted along with a designed experimental study.

The industrial development of metal cutting processes in gear manufacturing aims at continuously increasing productivity, including increased tool reliability. Basically, the parameters that have an influence on the cutting processes should be known and possible to control. Gear manufacturing is highly important for the automotive industry. The prevalent manufacturing method is gear hobbing with hobs consisting of solid Powder Metallurgical High Speed Steel (PM HSS) with Physical Vapor Deposited (PVD) coatings. The hob teeth have to be reconditioned before wear reaches such levels that the gear quality becomes impaired. Such wear often results in a total breakdown of the tool. One crucial reason for this is that hobbing processes for the present often lack reliability; which makes it difficult for the gear manufacturers to predict the tool wear on the hob teeth and decide when the tool should be replaced in order to avoid severe damages. A consequence of catastrophic tool wear is that it leads to an instantaneously changed geometry of the cutting edge, which in turn implies that the machined gears do not comply with the stipulated properties on the machined gear products. A single tooth milling test (STMT) with tools of PM-HSS in a conventional milling machine has been developed in this research project, aiming at characterizing the effect of tool preparation on the type of wear mechanism. The experience and conclusions from these tests may probably be transferred to real PM-HSS hob tooling (HT). The advantages of such a test, compared to a real gear hob test, are primarily the cost reductions and time saving aspects with respect to both the design and the manufacturing of the cutting teeth The research presented in this thesis is based on experimental investigations and theoretical studies of significant parameters, i.e. the surface roughness and edge rounding, contributing to the robust and reliable design of a PM-HSS cutting tool. The research work has in addition to, the development of the milling test method, also comprised development of measuring methods and a simulation model based on the Finite Element Model (FEM). / <p>QC 20121105</p>

Le sujet de ce travail concerne une partie précise des moteurs à explosion : le système soupape /siège de soupape. Les conditions de contact sont sévères : température élevée, choc, glissement, atmosphère agressive, … Le but a été d’évaluer la résistance à l’usure sous différents environnements des aciers obtenus par la métallurgie des poudres pour les sièges de soupape. Une expérimentation sur un dispositif d'essai spécifique d’impact-glissement a permis d’exploiter la dynamique instantanée du contact et la perte de matière en fonction de l’angle de contact (les angles testés sont 30°, 45° et 60°). L’étude s’est appuyée sur : - Une modélisation numérique par éléments finis d’un contact de configuration bille/plan. La reprise du modèle mécanique du simulateur expérimental a mis en avant une évolution de la dynamique du contact d’un glissement alternatif à 30° à une succession de multi-impact à 45° et 60°. Ce résultat a été validé à l’aide des observations par caméra rapide et des mesures de la résistance électrique du contact. Les résultats numériques montrent que les contraintes de cisaillement diminuent pour les grands angles. En revanche, une déformation plastique importante a été induite par les multi-impacts. Ces paramètres sont sensibles à l’augmentation du frottement aux faibles angles. La modélisation numérique a amené des réponses complémentaires aux résultats expérimentaux. - Une analyse tribologique du couple acier fritté/ acier de roulement, modélisé par une configuration bille/plan en mouvement alternatif et sous impact-glissement. Chaque chargement entraine des processus d’endommagement spécifiques. Dans le cas d’impact-glissement à sec, la perte de matière des aciers frittés augmente avec l’angle de contact. L’examen des traces d’usure indique l’importance de l’adhésion, de l’abrasion et de la déformation plastique. L’introduction d’un lubrifiant à l’interface entraine des modifications sur la dynamique du contact et les mécanismes d’usure. La viscosité et la composition chimique du lubrifiant influent différemment sur la détérioration de la surface. Dans ces conditions, cette dernière est associée à la croissance des pores à la surface, la propagation des fissures à la surface et en sous-couche et l’abrasion. Le suivi du volume d’usure en température indique une usure importante à 180°C. Ceci est dû à la cinétique d’oxydation de l’acier fritté. A plus haute température, la surface est protégée contre l’abrasion et l’adhésion grâce à la présence d’une couche de tribo-oxydation dite ‘phase glacée’. Ce travail montre l’importance de la compréhension de la relation entre la microstructure des aciers frittés destinés au siège de soupape et leur comportement. Ces matériaux ont montré une adaptabilité parfaite entre la perte de matière et les conditions de sollicitation. Les mécanismes d’usure montrent une totale dépendance à la fois à l’angle de contact et à l’environnement. / Sintered steel is used as a material for valve seat insert in automotive engines. During operation, a dynamic contact occurs between the valve and its seat. To investigate the wear behavior of sintered steel for this application, we have developed an impact-sliding tester using a ball on flat configuration. Impact-sliding experiments have been conducted at different impact angles (30°, 45°, 60°) with and without lubrication to investigate the surface damage of the sintered steel under this contact loading and to understand the effect of lubrication. As a first step, we investigated numerically the evolution of the contact pressure, stress and strain as a function of time. In fact, owning the experimental bench test, a finite element model was developed. Numerical results show an evolution from of dynamic behavior from permanent reciprocating sliding at low angles to an intermittent motion called multi-impacts at higher angles. Experimental electric resistance measurements seem to confirm these evolutions. As a consequence, shearing stress is reduced when plastic deformation increased with multi-impacts. Wear track observations are in good agreement with these findings. Our results have shown an important variation of the wear rate in relation to impact-sliding angle. In dry condition, a low wear regime is observed for low angles; whereas maximum wear is observed at 60° angle for lubricated contacts. The wear scar in the dry contact is deeper than in the lubricated one. The damaged surface of sintered steel is examined by a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In dry conditions, the contact area wears out quickly due to an adhesive-abrasive process. Under lubricated conditions, a fatigue crack opening is associated to a lower wear rate. The lubricated impact-sliding condition modifies the main surface damage phenomena. In addition, a comparison of wear volumes produced using pure mineral base oil and the same base oil containing an anti-wear, anti-friction additive (ZDDP), shows that this additive has only a weak effect on wear reduction under squeeze–sliding lubrication. A discussion of basic wear mechanisms is presented to explain the observations. The present research was carried out to study the combined aspects of impact and sliding failure mechanism at different contact temperatures. The tribological behavior was investigated both under reciprocating motion and with a dynamic impact-sliding loading. The measured friction coefficient decreases as the contact temperature increases. The presence of oxides seems to be the key factor of this evolution. When the loading changes to a combined impact with slides, wear rate and mechanisms of the sintered steel vary with temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy observations coupled with EDX analysis were investigated inside and outside of the wear track in order to understand the surface accommodation with temperatures.

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are a new class of structural materials and exhibit unique combinations of mechanical properties. As a result, their mechanical behavior has been an active area of scientific pursuit in the recent past and considerable emphasis has been paid to understand plastic deformation in them. It is now well accepted that shear transformation zones (STZs), aided by free volume, are the fundamental carriers of plasticity. At a microscopic level, deformation at low temperatures and high stresses tends to localize into shear bands. Most BMGs posses high fracture toughness despite high yield strengths and poor global ductility. However, the micro-mechanisms of fracture and fatigue in this new class of materials are not fully understood yet. The overall objective of this study is to provide insights into the fracture and fatigue response of amorphous alloys, which is important both from scientific and technological perspectives. The key questions we seek to answer through this study are the following. Do amorphous alloys undergo a ductile-brittle transition (DBT), and if so what are the reasons for it? What are the parameters that influence fatigue crack initiation in amorphous alloys and whether fatigue life can be improved by surface treatments? A related question is whether the BMGs are susceptible to deformation-induced crystallization (DIC). A Zr-based BMG, Zr41.2Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 was utilized to conduct this study. By comparing the fracture and fatigue behaviors in the as-cast and annealed states {annealing was carried out below the glass transition temperature (Tg) because of established embrittlement effects}, we seek to provide answers for the questions posed above. We begin by examining the influence of temperature on the toughness of BMGs. Impact toughness measurements show that the annealed samples, which are brittle at room temperature, recover the lost toughness beyond a critical temperature (TDB) and exhibit a sharp DBT. However, the hardness remains unaffected across the TDB. Fractography reveals nano-scale patterning and cleavage fracture in the brittle state, while the formation of thick vein-patterns and shear fracture are characteristics of the ductile state of the annealed samples. We explore various micro-mechanistic possibilities for explaining the features of this transition, including a critical Poisson’s ratio-toughness correlation. Next, to understand the origins of fatigue crack initiation, we study the un-notched fatigue response of as-cast and sub-Tg annealed Zr-based BMG specimens. Because of embrittlement and nano-crystallization at the crack initiation region, the annealed specimens exhibit a lower fatigue life than the as-cast specimens. Shot-peening of the as-cast specimens did not exhibit significant improvement in their fatigue performance because of competing effects between the compressive residual stress field (CRSF) and deformation-induced softening. To further investigate surface and repeated loading effects, the tribological response of the as-cast Zr-based BMG was compared with specimens annealed above and below the Tg. A good correlation between the hardness (increasing as a function of the annealing temperature) and wear rate was obtained. The formation and peeling of the oxide layer formed during testing was the primary wear mechanism in all the specimens. Lastly, crystallization was observed within the deformed region of the as-cast Zr-based BMG repeatedly scratched with a sharp diamond indenter. But, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) does not reveal any evidence of crystallization within the indents formed within an electron transparent film formed by laser deposition of the as-cast Zr-based BMG. Absence of crystallization in deformed regions obtained by designing critical experiments, which avoid artifacts generated during sample preparation, suggests that the occasional observation of DIC might be an exception rather than the rule in BMGs.

Le rendement des compresseurs aéronautiques est amélioré en minimisant le jeu entre les aubes en rotation et le carter qui les entoure, réduisant ainsi les fuites aérodynamiques. Ce jeu réduit occasionne des contacts entre les aubes et le carter ; afin d’assurer leur intégrité mécanique, le carter est revêtu d’un matériau abradable sacrificiel, lequel accommode les incursions d’aube. Les interactions aube – revêtement abradable couplent des phénomènes tribologiques et vibratoires à haute vitesse et à haute température, dont l’étude expérimentale est requise pour le développement de modèles numériques prédictifs. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’identifier expérimentalement la force et les mécanismes d’interaction aube-abradable AlSi-Polyester dans une configuration d’essai représentative du fonctionnement des étages de compresseur basse-pression. Des méthodes couplées expérimentales - analytiques, prenant en compte la dynamique d’aube, ont été développées afin d’accéder à la force d’interaction et à l’incursion aube-abradable. L’influence de la température, de la nuance du matériau abradable et de la raideur d’aube a été étudiée. Les mécanismes d’usure et d’endommagement du revêtement abradable ont été investigués et corrélés aux conditions d’interaction. Ces travaux de thèse ont été réalisés dans le cadre d’une collaboration entre le Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille, SNECMA Villaroche (groupe SAFRAN) et le centre ONERA de Lille. / Minimizing the clearance between turbofan blades and the surrounding casing is a key factor to re-ducing leakage flows and consequently improving efficiency. The tight clearance may lead to blade-casing interactions. An abradable coating is deposited on the casing to accommodate blade incursions and thus to protect the blades and the casing from severe damage. Blade/abradable-coating interactions involve tribological and vibratory phenomena at high velocity and temperature. Experimental knowledge of these interactions is paramount to the proper design of abradable materials and the prediction of their lifetimes through numerical simulations. The purpose of this thesis is to identify experimentally the force and the mechanisms occuring during interaction between a vibrating blade and an AlSi-Polyester abradable coating. To this end, experiments were conducted on a dedicated test rig, in conditions representative of low-pressure compressor situation. Specific methods involving dynamical measurements and analytical models have been developed in order to obtain the blade/abradable-coating interacting force as well as the blade tip incursion. The influence of temperature, coating nature and blade stiffness has been studied. The interaction mechanisms and wear of the abradable coating have been investigated and correlated with the interaction conditions. This work was achieved within the framework of cooperation between Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille (France), SAFRAN-SNECMA (France) and ONERA, the French Aerospace Lab.

Hard chrome exhibit hardness of about 70 HRC and lubricity that prevents seizing and galling and is therefore the common first choice for engineers to reduce friction and minimize wear. These properties enable engineering applications such as cutting and drilling, especially in manufacturing, production and consumer good industries. Hard chrome has a wide set of functions as being decorative, corrosion resistant and ease cleaning procedures. Hence, electroplating is a common process to synthesize hard chrome butthis process is banned by EU due to the rise of hazardous components. However, the need for alternative material is at rise but, fundamental issues for hard chrome are yet to be solved. The purpose of the work is to develop atomic structures for two systems using different programs such as OpenMX, VESTA and Ovito. The goal is to identify atomic wear mechanisms of hard chrome in an ideal system (Al2O3- Cr) and a real system (Al2O3 - Cr2O3) using density functional theory (DFT). These two systems are analyzed since every surface oxidises in air (real system) and under increased mechanical loads the pristine surface of hard chrome (ideal system) can be exposed to the counter body (Al2O3). DFT based molecular dynamics simulations are carried out at a temperature of 300 K and a sliding speed of 10 ms−1. The simulation interval is 0-15000 fs and radial distribution function (RDF) is employed to analyse the atomic wear mechanisms. Both systems start to show adhesive wear due to amorphization, mixed with signs of abrasive wear on the atomic scale. The systems are further analyzed using electron density distribution (EDD), that plots electronic structures enhancing the analyse of different type of bondstaking place. The bulk structures mainly show covalent bonds with ionic and metallic bonds less represented. Furthermore, same observations have been made for the interfaces of the ideal and real system. / Hårdkrom uppvisar hårdhet på ungefär 70 HRC och en smörjförmåga som förhindrar nötning och är därför det vanliga första valet för ingenjörer att minska friktionen och minimera slitaget. Dessa egenskaper möjliggör tekniska tillämpningar, såsom skärning och borrning, särskilt inom tillverknings, produktions och konsumentvaruindustrin. Hårdkrom har ett brett användningsområde och flera egenskaper såsom att vara dekorativ, korrosionsbeständig och underlätta rengöringsprocedurer. Därav är galvanisering en vanlig process för att syntetisera hårdkrom, men denna process är förbjuden av EU på grund av utsläpp av farliga komponenter. Behovet av alternativt material är vid uppgång men, de grundläggande problemen för hård krom är ännu inte lösta. Syftet med arbetet är att ta fram atom strukturer för två system med hjälp av olika program, såsom OpenMX, VESTA och Ovito. Målet är att identifiera vilken typ av nötning som sker på hårdkrom i ett idealt system (Al2O3- Cr) och i ett verkligt system (Al2O3- Cr2O3) genom att använda täthetsfunktionalteorin (DFT). Dessa två system analyseras eftersom varje yta oxiderar i luften (verkligt system) och under ökade mekaniska belastningar kan den orörda ytan av hårtkrom (idealiskt system) exponeras för motkroppen (Al2O3). DFT simuleringar är skapade med en temperatur på 300 K och en glidningshastighet på 10 ms−1. Simulerings intervallet är från 0-15000 fs och med hjälp av radiell fördelningsfunktion (RDF) analyseras de atomiska nötnings mekanismerna. Båda systemen börjar visa adhesiv nötning på grund av amorfisering, samt ett tecken på abrasiv nötning på en atomisk skala. Systemen analyseras vidare med användning av elektrondensitetsfördelning (EDD) som plottar elektroniska strukturer vilket förbättrar analysen av olika typer av bindningar som äger rum. Bulkstrukturerna visar huvudsaklig en kovalent bindning med joniska och metalliska bindningar mindre representerade. Samma observationer har gjorts för gränssnitten mellan det ideala och verkliga systemet.

This thesis work was conducted at Luleå University of Technology in collaboration with Sandvik Rock Tools. The aim of the work was to determine the influence of carbon content on the wear performance in carburized steel in the dry contact interface of threaded connections between drill rods. In order to investigate this, samples of drill rod steel were carburized to three different carbon concentrations and shot peened to replicate the production process of a drill rod. The samples were wear tested by utilizing a twin-disc wear tester with one disc rotating at 100 RPM and the other at 3000 RPM to mimic the operating conditions in the threaded connection between drill rods. The results was evaluated by wear rate, surface topography, hardness as well as optical analysis by light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that an increased surface carbon content provide a decrease in wear rate and an increase in hardness in the surface layer that undergo microstructural changes due to the frictional heat and contact pressure during wear testing. The primary wear mechanisms were identified as plastic deformation, adhesive scratching and material removal through delamination.