Method of testing carbide inserts for premature fracture by face milling of cylindrical workpieces

Methods are proposed for face milling solid cylindrical workpieces or half-cut and hollow cylindrical workpieces prepared from rectangular blocks by continuously changing both or either of the angles of engagement and disengagement. Carbide inserts are tested for premature fracture before the onset of steady wear using these face-milling methods. The premature fracture indicates the insufficient toughness of carbides to perform a given machining job. As carbides of higher wear resistance have lower shock resistance in general, they must be tested for premature fracture due to the lack of toughness to select suitable carbides for specific cutting applications. The test results obtained under the present study show that the premature fracture of carbides, whose toughness was classified by static toughness tests, can be evaluated dynamically and easily by the proposed face-milling methods.