Tool Wear Measurement by High Resolution Optical Scanning: First Results

Abstract

The technological advances in material science provide new materials with higher strength and toughness to be used in new engineering designs. This contionus increase in strength of workpiece materials necessitates tool steels and coatings with improved performance. Since the surface finish of the final product depends on the amount of tool wear, tool steels and tool coatings have critical importance for their overall quality. On the other hand, wear resistance is the main parameter determining the mechanical performance of tool steels and/or tool coatings. To characterize wear resistance, machining experiments are designed for different new tool steels and tool coatings where the best tool steel and/or tool coating exhibit the least amount of wear for the specific machining parameters/conditions. In order to evaluate the results to analyze the performance of the tools or coatings, measurement of the tool wear with high precision is required. In this contribution, development of a novel volumetric wear resistance measurement system based on high precision 3D optical scanning is discussed with respect to its advantages, precision and engineering solutions provided.

Keywords: Tool wear, Wear resistance, 3D optical scanning