Indian J ournal of Engineering & Materials Sciences

Vol. 11, February 2004, pp. 19-24

Tool wear optimization in turning operation by Taguchi method

Hari Singh
a
& Pradeep Kumar
b*

a
Mechanical Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra 136 119, India
b
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247 667, India
Received 1 April 2003; accepted 11 November 2003
A design of experiment-based approach is adopted to obtain an optimal setting of turning process parameters (cutting
speed, feed and depth of cut) that may yield optimal tool wear (flank wear and crater wear) to titanium carbide coated
carbide inserts while machining En24 steel (0.4% C), a difficult-to-machine material. The effects of the selected process
parameters on tool wear and subsequent optimal settings of the parameters have been accomplished using Taguchis
parameter design approach. The results indicate that the selected process parameters affect significantly the tool wear
characteristics of TiC coated carbide tool. The predicted optimal values of flank wear width and crater wear depth of coated
carbide tool while machining En24 steel are 0.172 mm and 0.244 micron respectively. The results are further confirmed by
conducting further experiments.
The machine tool industry in India has made
tremendous progress, however, the metal cutting
industries using various machine tools continue to
suffer from a major drawback of not utilizing the
machine tools at their full potential. A major cause
leading to such a situation is not to run the machine
tools at their optimum operating conditions.
Unfortunately, the manufacturing engineers in India
continue to choose the operating conditions solely on
the basis of handbook values and/or manufacturers
recommendations and/or worker experience.
To produce a quality product, the manufacturing
engineer can employ off-line techniques also apart
from on-line quality control methods. The quality
control activities at the manufacturing stage are on-
line quality control methods. The quality control
methods that are conducted at the design stage are off-
line quality control methods. Considerable advantages
can be obtained by achieving product quality at the
initial stage instead of controlling quality at the
manufacturing process stage
1
.
The Taguchi method of off-line quality control
encompasses all stages of product/process
development. However, the key element for achieving
high quality and low cost is parameter design.
Through parameter design optimal levels of process
parameters can be determined
1,2
.
Thus, the objective of this work is to obtain optimal
settings of turning process parameters-cutting speed,
feed and depth of cut, for optimizing tool wear
characteristics while machining En24 steel with TiC
coated carbide inserts. Taguchis parameter design
approach has been used to accomplish the objective.

Theoretical
In order to identify the process parameters that may
affect the machining characteristics of turned parts, an
Ishikawa cause-effect diagram was constructed and is
shown in Fig. 1. The identified process parameters
are
3
: (i) cutting tool related parameters tool
geometry and tool material, (ii) work piece based
parameters composition, structure, strength and
hardness, and (iii) cutting parameters cutting speed,
feed, depth of cut, wet cutting and dry cutting.
New materials of higher strengths and capabilities
are being developed continuously in order to meet the
ever-increasing demands for product reliability and
________
*For correspondence (Email: kumarfme@iitr.ernet.in)


Fig. 1Ishikawa cause-effect diagram of turning process
INDIAN J . ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2004


20
durability. Such materials find their uses in the field
of aircraft, aerospace, ship building, automobile
industries and in the manufacture of machine tool
parts. En24 steel is one such material and it finds its
typical applications in manufacturing of automobile
and machine tools parts such as axle shafts, main
shafts, differential shafts, spindle gears and power
transmission gears
4
. Because of its wide application
En24 steel has been selected as the work material in
this work.
The fundamental idea behind the introduction of
coated carbide tools is to take advantage of their
higher cutting speed, to turn difficult to machine
materials like En24 steel, in order to achieve
increased metal removal rates. Thus TiC coated
carbide inserts have been selected to turn En24 steel
in this work
5
. Some preliminary experiments were
carried out using one-variable at-a-time approach to
decide the range of process parameters.
The following parameters were kept constant in the
entire experimentation
5
:

Work material : En24 steel
Cutting tool : Widadur TG
Insert geometry : SPUN 120308 (ISO designation)
Tool holder : CSBPR 2525H12
(ISO designation)
Tool overhang : 30 mm
Cutting conditions : Dry

Selection of an orthogonal array (OA)
The non-linear behaviour among the process
parameters, if exists, can only be revealed if more
than two levels of the parameter are investigated
6
.
Therefore, each parameter was analyzed at three
levels. The process parameters along with their values
at three levels are given in Table 1. In order to remove
the biased-ness each experiment was conducted for a
fixed duration. It was also decided to investigate the
following two factor interaction effects on tool wear:
(i) interaction between cutting speed and feed (AXB),
(ii) interaction between feed and depth of cut (BXC)
and (iii) interaction between cutting speed and depth
of cut (AXC).
The total degree of freedom (DOF) for three
parameters each at three levels and three second-order
interactions is18 [=3(3-1)+3(22)]. So, a three
level OA with at least 18 DOF was to be selected. The
L
27
(3
13
) OA having 26 DOF was selected for the
present work. The L
27
OA is given in Table 2. This
array specifies 27 experiment runs and has 13
columns
1
. The parameters and interactions were
assigned to appropriate columns using linear graphs
for the L
27
OA. The assignment of process parameters
and interactions to columns is also given in Table 2.

Experiment, Analysis and Discussion
En24 alloy Steel rods of 90 mm diameter and 500
mm length were turned on an H-22 Centre lathe of
H.M.T. using TiC coated carbide inserts Widadur-TG
of Widia India Limited. Three cutting edges of the
carbide inserts (SPUN 120308) were used for each
trial condition using randomization technique
1
. Thus
eighty-one cutting edges of the carbide inserts were
used according to the trial conditions specified in
Table 2. The machining time was 4 min to measure
flank wear width and crater wear depth. The flank
wear width was measured by Large Tool Makers
Microscope and crater wear depth was measured by
Light Section Microscope
5
. The results of the
experiments for twenty-seven trial conditions with
three repetitions are given in Table 3.
The tool wear is a lower the better type of quality
characteristic (goal always is to have minimum tool
wear). So, the S/N ratio for lower the better type of
response was used and is given below
7
:

S/N ratio (in dB) =10 log
( )
2 2 2
1 2
1
.......
n
y y y
n

+ + +



(1)

where y
1
, y
2
y
n
are the responses of values of
quality characteristic for a trial condition repeated n
times.
The S/N ratios were computed using Eq. (1) for
each of the twenty-seven trials and are reported in
Table 3 along with the raw data.
The mean response refers to the average value of
the performance characteristic for each parameter at
different levels. The average values of flank wear
width for each parameter at levels 1, 2 and 3 were
calculated and are plotted in Fig. 2. Similar
processing of data for crater wear depth was
performed and Fig. 3 is the representation of average
values of crater wear depth. The main effects (raw
Table 1Process parameters with their values at three levels

Levels Process parameters Parameters
Designation L1 L2 L3

Cutting speed (m/min) A 190 250 310
Feed (mm/rev) B 0.14 0.16 0.18
Depth of cut (mm) C 0.70 0.85 1.00

SINGH & KUMAR: TOOL WEAR OPTIMIZATION IN TURNING OPERATION BY TAGUCHI METHOD


21
data) of the various parameters when they are
changed from lower level to higher level can be
envisaged from Fig. 2 (for flank wear) and Fig. 3 (for
crater wear) by the lift between the two levels.
The average values of S/N ratios of various
parameters at different levels are shown in Fig. 2. The
average S/N values for crater wear depth are shown in
Fig. 3. It is clear from Fig. 2 that flank wear width is
minimum at the 2
nd
level of parameter A (speed), 1
st

level of parameter B (feed) and also the 1
st
level of
parameter C (depth of cut). The S/N ratio analysis
(Fig. 2) also suggests the same levels of the
parameters (A
2
, B
1
and C
1
) as the best levels for
minimum flank wear width of TiC coated tool in
turning of En24 steel.
In order to study the significance of the parameters,
analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. The
pooled ANOVA of the raw data (flank wear width) is
given in Table 4. The S/N pooled ANOVA is given in
Table 5. From Tables 4 and 5, it is evident that the
speed, feed, and depth of cut significantly affect both
the mean value of flank wear width as well as the
variation in the flank wear width. The interactions:
AXB (speed and feed), BXC (feed and depth of cut)
and AXC (speed and depth of cut), are significant in
raw data ANOVA only. These affect the mean value
of flank wear width only. All these interactions are
insignificant in S/N pooled ANOVA. The percent
contributions of the parameters as quantified under
column P of Tables 4 and 5 reveal that the influence
of parameters A and C on the flank wear width is
significantly larger than the influence of parameter B.
Similar analysis based on Fig. 3 and ANOVA
Tables (not reported here) leads to the conclusion that
parameters A, B and C (speed, feed and depth of cut
respectively) significantly affect both the mean value
of crater wear depth as well as the variation in the
crater wear depth. The influence of speed is
significantly larger than the influence of feed and
depth of cut.
Table 2 L
27
(3
13
) OA (Process parameters and interactions assigned) with responses (Raw Data & S/N Ratios)

Response
(Raw Data)
Col.
Trial
A

1
B

2
A X B

3
A X B

4
C

5
A X C

6
A X C

7
B X C

8
-

9
-

10
B X C

11
-

12
-

13 R1 R2 R3

S/N Ratio
(dB)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
2
3
1
2
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
3
1
2
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2
3
1
2
1
2
3
1
2
3
3
1
2
2
3
1
1
2
3
3
1
2
1
2
3
3
1
2
2
3
1
2
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
3
1
2
2
3
1
3
1
2
2
3
1
Y
11

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Y
12

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Y
13

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
S/N(1)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
1
1
1
3
3
3
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
2
3
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
1
2
3
3
1
2
2
3
1
3
1
2
3
1
2
2
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
2
3
1
1
2
3
3
1
2
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Y
271
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Y
272
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Y
273
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
S/N(27)
The 1s, 2s and 3s represent level 1, level 2 and level 3 of the parameters and interactions which appear at the top of the columns.
(-) represents no assignment in the column.
R1, R2, R3 represent repetitions.
Y
ij
=measured values of quality characteristic (response).

INDIAN J . ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2004


22

Table 3Experimental data of flank wear width and crater wear depth

Flank Wear Width (mm) Crater Wear Depth (m) Randomized Trial
No.
R1 R2 R3
S/N Ratio
(dB)
R1 R2 R3
S/N Ratio
(dB)
1
10
19
2
11
20
3
12
21
4
13
22
5
14
23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
0.20
0.26
0.28
0.27
0.28
0.30
0.32
0.25
0.32
0.16
0.20
0.24
0.18
0.24
0.26
0.22
0.24
0.27
0.24
0.30
0.32
0.32
0.22
0.34
0.14
0.17
0.26
0.16
0.27
0.28
0.20
0.25
0.24
0.26
0.30
0.31
0.28
0.28
0.30
0.16
0.21
0.23
0.19
0.25
0.30
13.69
12.04
11.57
11.80
10.65
10.17
10.25
12.00
9.89
16.27
14.24
12.26
15.04
11.92
11.04
0.50
0.65
0.68
0.65
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.63
0.80
0.25
0.27
0.30
0.27
0.32
0.40
0.55
0.61
0.70
0.60
0.69
0.80
0.78
0.55
0.85
0.20
0.33
0.41
0.24
0.36
0.42
0.52
0.63
0.60
0.61
0.75
0.76
0.70
0.68
0.75
0.22
0.30
0.39
0.30
0.40
0.45
5.62
4.01
3.59
4.15
2.93
2.27
2.37
4.12
1.93
12.98
10.43
8.64
11.34
8.84
7.46
6
15
24
7
16
25
8
17
26
9
18
27
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
0.20
0.24
0.28
0.34
0.24
0.32
0.27
0.25
0.36
0.28
0.28
0.36
0.22
0.26
0.30
0.32
0.22
0.30
0.25
0.31
0.34
0.31
0.28
0.36
0.22
0.22
0.27
0.30
0.24
0.34
0.25
0.28
0.32
0.27
0.30
0.34
13.41
12.38
10.95
9.71
12.63
9.89
11.81
11.02
9.36
10.84
10.85
9.03
0.35
0.44
0.42
0.91
0.64
0.85
0.73
0.68
0.95
0.76
0.72
0.98
0.30
0.36
0.45
0.86
0.60
0.80
0.68
0.80
0.89
0.84
0.74
1.00
0.29
0.38
0.40
0.84
0.61
0.92
0.70
0.75
0.87
0.73
0.81
0.90
10.05
0.07
7.46
1.20
4.20
1.33
3.05
2.56
0.88
2.18
2.41
0.35
Total 7.18 7.22 7.11 16.4 16.41 16.26
FWW
T =Overall mean of FWW
=0.27 mm
FWW =Flank wear width
CWD
T =Overall mean of CWD
=0.61 m
CWD =Crater wear depth
R1, R2, R3 represent repetitions

Table 4Pooled ANOVA (Raw data: Flank wear width)
Source SS DOF V F ratio SS
/
P

0.0717728
0.0218987
0.0531135
6.678911110
-3

8.538151810
-3

0.0138863
2
2
2
4
4
4
0.0358864
0.0109493
0.0265567
1.669727810
-3

2.13453810
-3

3.47157510
-3

69.35*
21.16*
51.32*
3.32*
4.12*
6.71*
0.0707378
0.0208637
0.0520785
4.608949810
-3

6.468190510
-3

0.0118163
34.01
10.03
25.04
2.22
3.11
5.68
A
B
C
AB
BC
AC
T
e (pooled)
0.2079728
0.0320844
80
62

5.174903210
-4

0.2079728
0.0413992
100.00
19.91
Tabulated F-ratio at 95% confidence level : F
0.05;2;62
=3.15; F
0.05; 4; 62
=2.53
*Significant at 95% confidence level.

Table 5 S/N Pooled ANOVA (Raw data: Flank wear width)

Source SS DOF V F ratio SS
/
P

29.1230
9.7156
20.6606
(2.9669)
(3.0519)
(7.4978)
2
2
2
(4)
(4)
(4)
14.5615
4.8578
10.3303



15.08*
5.03*
10.70*
Pooled
Pooled
Pooled
27.674375
8.266975
19.211975



35.12
10.49
24.38



A
B
C
AB
BC
AC
T
e (pooled)
78.8103
(19.3111)
26
(20)

0.965555
78.8103
23.656975
100.00
30.01
Tabulated F-ratio at 95% confidence level: F
0.05;2;20
=3.49
*Significant at 95% confidence level.
SINGH & KUMAR: TOOL WEAR OPTIMIZATION IN TURNING OPERATION BY TAGUCHI METHOD


23



Fig. 2Effects of process parameters on flank wear width (raw
data) and S/N ratio (main effects)



Fig. 3Effects of process parameters on crater wear depth (raw
data) and S/N ratio (main effects)
Estimation of optimum performance of characteristics
The optimum of the flank wear width (
FWW
) is
predicted at the selected levels of significant
parameters. The significant parameters with optimum
levels are already selected as A
2
, B
1
and C
1
. The
interactions AXB, BXC and AXC, are quite
insignificant in comparison to the parameters A, B
and C. Hence these are neglected in estimation of
mean and confidence intervals
1
.
The estimated mean of the response characteristic
(flank wear width) can be computed as
1
:

__ __ __
2 1 1
2
FWW FWW
A B C T = + + (2)

where
FWW
T is overall mean of flank wear width =
0.27 mm (Table 3),
__ __ __
2 1 1
, and A B C are the average
values of flank wear width with parameters at optimal
levels. From Fig. 2:
2
A =0.226 mm,
1
B =0.243 mm
1
C =0.243 mm
Hence
FWW
=0.226 +0.243 +0.243 20.27=
0.172 mm
A confidence interval for the predicted mean on a
confirmation run can be calculated using the
following equation
1
:

C.I. =
eff
1 1
(1, ). .
e e
F f V
n R

+




where, F

(1, f
e
) is F ratio required for , is risk, f
e

is error DOF, V
e
is error variance, n
eff
is effective
number of replications.

n
eff
=
[ ] 1 Total DOF associated in the estimate of mean
N
+


R is number of repetitions for confirmation
experiment and N is total number of experiments.
Using the values V
e
=5.174903210
-4
and f
e
=62
from Table 4, the C.I. was calculated.
Total DOF associated with the estimate of mean
(
FWW
) =23 =6
Total trials =27
N =327=81
n
eff
=
81
11.57
1 6
=
+

F
0.05;
(1, 62) =4.00 (tabulated)
The calculated C.I. is:
C.I.= 0.029
SR (
INDIAN J . ENG. MATER. SCI., FEBRUARY 2004


24
The predicted mean of flank wear width is:

FWW
=0.172 mm
The 95% confidence interval of the predicted
optimal flank wear width is:
[
FWW
-C.I.] <
FWW
(mm)<[
FWW
+C.I.]
0.143 <
FWW
(mm) <0.201
Using the same procedure, the predicted mean of
crater wear depth was calculated and was found to be,

CWD
=0.244 m.
The 95% confidence interval of the predicted
optimal crater were depth was found to be:
0.166 <
CWD
(m) <0.322.

Confirmation experiment
Three confirmation experiments were conducted at
the optimal settings of the turning process parameters
recommended by the investigation. The average flank
wear width and the crater wear depth of TiC coated
carbide inserts Widadur TG in machining En24 alloy
steel were found to be 0.153 mm and 0.223 m
respectively. These results were within the C.I. of the
predicted optimal values of the cutting tool
characteristics (flank wear width and crater wear
depth).

Conclusions
1 The percent contributions of each parameter to
the variation of tool wear characteristics of TiC
coated carbide tool are as follows:

Percent contribution on Parameter
Flank wear width Crater wear depth
Cutting speed 35.12 84.27
Depth of cut 24.38 5.97
Feed 10.49 2.48

2 The levels of the process parameters for the
minimum tool wear of TiC coated carbide inserts
while machining E
n
24 steel are:

Parameter Optimal levels

Cutting speed 2 (250 m/min.)
Feed 1 (0.14 mm/rev.)
Depth of cut 1 (0.70 mm)

3 The interactions: AXB, BXC and AXC are
significant in raw data ANOVA only for flank
wear width quality characteristic. Hence these
affect the average value of response. The
interaction between cutting speed and depth of cut
(AXC) is significant in raw data ANOVA only for
the crater wear depth characteristic. This
interaction therefore, affects the average value of
the response.
4 The predicted range of optimum tool wear
characteristics are: 0.143 <
FWW
(mm)<0.201
and 0.166 <
CWD
(m)<0.322. The results are
valid within the specified range of the process
parameters and for the specific combination of
work and tool material. Any extrapolation must
be confirmed by further conducting the
experiments.

References
1 Ross Philip J , Taguchi techniques for quality engineering,
(McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York), 1996.
2 Peace G S, Taguchi methods: A hands-on approach, (Addison-
Wesley, New York), 1993.
3 ASM Metals handbook, Vol. 16, 9
th
Ed (American Society of
Metals, Metals Park, Ohio), 1995.
4 Mottram R A & WoolMan J , The mechanical and physical
properties of British standard EN steels, Vol. 2, 1
st
Ed, En 21-
En 39, (1966), 72.
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