Machinability Of Steels

Because steels are among the most important engineering materials, their machinability has been studied extensively. The machinability of steels has been mainly improved by adding lead and sulfur to obtain so-called free-machining steels.

Resulfurized and Rephosphorized steels. Sulfur in steels forms manganese sulfide inclusions (second-phase particles), which act as stress raisers in the primary shear zone. As a result, the chips produced break up easily and are small; this improves machinability. The size, shape, distribution, and concentration of these inclusions significantly influence machinability. Elements such as tellurium and selenium, which are both chemically similar to sulfur, act as inclusion modifiers in resulfurized steels.

Phosphorus in steels has two major effects. It strengthens the ferrite, causing increased hardness. Harder steels result in better chip formation and surface finish. Note that soft steels can be difficult to machine, with built-up edge formation and poor surface finish. The second effect is that increased hardness causes the formation of short chips instead of continuous stringy ones, thereby improving machinability.

Leaded Steels. A high percentage of lead in steels solidifies at the tip of manganese sulfide inclusions. In non-resulfurized grades of steel, lead takes the form of dispersed fine particles. Lead is insoluble in iron, copper, and aluminum and their alloys. Because of its low shear strength, therefore, lead acts as a solid lubricant (Section 32.11) and is smeared over the tool-chip interface during cutting. This behavior has been verified by the presence of high concentrations of lead on the tool-side face of chips when machining leaded steels.

When the temperature is sufficiently high-for instance, at high cutting speeds and feeds (Section 20.6)—the lead melts directly in front of the tool, acting as a liquid lubricant. In addition to this effect, lead lowers the shear stress in the primary shear zone, reducing cutting forces and power consumption. Lead can be used in every grade of steel, such as 10xx, 11xx, 12xx, 41xx, etc. Leaded steels are identified by the letter L between the second and third numerals (for example, 10L45). (Note that in stainless steels, similar use of the letter L means “low carbon,” a condition that improves their corrosion resistance.)

However, because lead is a well-known toxin and a pollutant, there are serious environmental concerns about its use in steels (estimated at 4500 tons of lead consumption every year in the production of steels). Consequently, there is a continuing trend toward eliminating the use of lead in steels (lead-free steels). Bismuth and tin are now being investigated as possible substitutes for lead in steels.

Calcium-Deoxidized Steels. An important development is calcium-deoxidized steels, in which oxide flakes of calcium silicates (CaSo) are formed. These flakes, in turn, reduce the strength of the secondary shear zone, decreasing tool-chip interface and wear. Temperature is correspondingly reduced. Consequently, these steels produce less crater wear, especially at high cutting speeds.

Stainless Steels. Austenitic (300 series) steels are generally difficult to machine. Chatter can be s problem, necessitating machine tools with high stiffness. However, ferritic stainless steels (also 300 series) have good machinability. Martensitic (400 series) steels are abrasive, tend to form a built-up edge, and require tool materials with high hot hardness and crater-wear resistance. Precipitation-hardening stainless steels are strong and abrasive, requiring hard and abrasion-resistant tool materials.

The Effects of Other Elements in Steels on Machinability. The presence of aluminum and silicon in steels is always harmful because these elements combine with oxygen to form aluminum oxide and silicates, which are hard and abrasive. These compounds increase tool wear and reduce machinability. It is essential to produce and use clean steels.

Carbon and manganese have various effects on the machinability of steels, depending on their composition. Plain low-carbon steels (less than 0.15% C) can produce poor surface finish by forming a built-up edge. Cast steels are more abrasive, although their machinability is similar to that of wrought steels. Tool and die steels are very difficult to machine and usually require annealing prior to machining. Machinability of most steels is improved by cold working, which hardens the material and reduces the tendency for built-up edge formation.

Other alloying elements, such as nickel, chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium, which improve the properties of steels, generally reduce machinability. The effect of boron is negligible. Gaseous elements such as hydrogen and nitrogen can have particularly detrimental effects on the properties of steel. Oxygen has been shown to have a strong effect on the aspect ratio of the manganese sulfide inclusions; the higher the oxygen content, the lower the aspect ratio and the higher the machinability.

In selecting various elements to improve machinability, we should consider the possible detrimental effects of these elements on the properties and strength of the machined part in service. At elevated temperatures, for example, lead causes embrittlement of steels (liquid-metal embrittlement, hot shortness; see Section), although at room temperature it has no effect on mechanical properties.

Sulfur can severely reduce the hot workability of steels, because of the formation of iron sulfide, unless sufficient manganese is present to prevent such formation. At room temperature, the mechanical properties of resulfurized steels depend on the orientation of the deformed manganese sulfide inclusions (anisotropy). Rephosphorized steels are significantly less ductile, and are produced solely to improve machinability.

Machinability is usually defined in terms of surface finish, tool life, force and power requirements, and chip control. Machinability of materials depends not only on their intrinsic properties and microstructure, but also on proper selection and control of process variables.

钢的可机加工性

因为钢是最重要的工程材料之一，所以他们的可机加工性已经被广泛地研究过。通过宗教铅和硫磺，钢的可机加工性已经大大地提高了。从而得到了所谓的易切削钢。

二次硫化钢和二次磷化钢 硫在钢中形成硫化锰夹杂物（第二相粒子），这些夹杂物在第一剪切区引起应力。其结果是使切屑容易断开而变小，从而改善了可加工性。这些夹杂物的大小、形状、分布和集中程度显著的影响可加工性。化学元素如碲和硒，其化学性质与硫类似，在二次硫化钢中起夹杂物改性作用。

钢中的磷有两个主要的影响。它加强铁素体，增加硬度。越硬的钢，形成更好的切屑形成和表面光洁性。需要注意的是软钢不适合用于有积屑瘤形成和很差的表面光洁性的机器。第二个影响是增加的硬度引起短切屑而不是不断的细长的切屑的形成，因此提高可加工性。

含铅的钢 钢中高含量的铅在硫化锰夹杂物尖端析出。在非二次硫化钢中，铅呈细小而分散的颗粒。铅在铁、铜、铝和它们的合金中是不能溶解的。因为它的低抗剪强度。因此，铅充当固体润滑剂并且在切削时，被涂在刀具和切屑的接口处。这一特性已经被在机加工铅钢时，在切屑的刀具面表面有高浓度的铅的存在所证实。

当温度足够高时—例如，在高的切削速度和进刀速度下—铅在刀具前直接熔化，并且充当液体润滑剂。除了这个作用，铅降低第一剪切区中的剪应力，减小切削力和功率消耗。铅能用于各种钢号，例如10XX，11XX，12XX，41XX等等。铅钢被第二和第三数码中的字母L所识别（例如，10L45）。（需要注意的是在不锈钢中，字母L的相同用法指的是低碳，提高它们的耐蚀性的条件）。

然而，因为铅是有名的毒素和污染物，因此在钢的使用中存在着严重的环境隐患（在钢产品中每年大约有4500吨的铅消耗）。结果，对于估算钢中含铅量的使用存在一个持续的趋势。铋和锡现正作为钢中的铅最可能的替代物而被人们所研究。

脱氧钙钢 一个重要的发展是脱氧钙钢，在脱氧钙钢中矽酸钙盐中的氧化物片的形成。这些片状，依次减小第二剪切区中的力量，降低刀具和切屑接口处的摩擦和磨损。温度也相应地降低。结果，这些钢产生更小的月牙洼磨损，特别是在高切削速度时更是如此。

不锈钢 奥氏体钢通常很难机加工。振动能成为一个问题，需要有高硬度的机床。然而，铁素体不锈钢有很好的可机加工性。马氏体钢易磨蚀，易于形成积屑瘤，并且要求刀具材料有高的热硬度和耐月牙洼磨损性。经沉淀硬化的不锈钢强度高、磨蚀性强，因此要求刀具材料硬而耐磨。

钢中其它元素在可机加工性方面的影响 钢中铝和矽的存在总是有害的，因为这些元素结合氧会生成氧化铝和矽酸盐，而氧化铝和矽酸盐硬且具有磨蚀性。这些化合物增加刀具磨损，降低可机加工性。因此生产和使用净化钢非常必要。

根据它们的构成，碳和锰钢在钢的可机加工性方面有不同的影响。低碳素钢（少于0.15%的碳）通过形成一个积屑瘤能生成很差的表面光洁性。尽管铸钢的可机加工性和锻钢的大致相同，但铸钢具有更大的磨蚀性。刀具和模具钢很难用于机加工，他们通常再煅烧后再机加工。大多数钢的可机加工性在冷加工后都有所提高，冷加工能使材料变硬并且减少积屑瘤的形成。

其它合金元素，例如镍、铬、钳和钒，能提高钢的特性，减小可机加工性。硼的影响可以忽视。气态元素比如氢和氮在钢的特性方面能有特别的有害影响。氧已经被证明了在硫化锰夹杂物的纵横比方面有很强的影响。越高的含氧量，就产生越低的纵横比和越高的可机加工性。

选择各种元素以改善可加工性，我们应该考虑到这些元素对已加工零件在使用中的性能和强度的不利影响。例如，当温度升高时，铝会使钢变脆（液体—金属脆化，热脆化），尽管其在室温下对力学性能没有影响。

因为硫化铁的构成，硫能严重的减少钢的热加工性，除非有足够的锰来防止这种结构的形成。在室温下，二次磷化钢的机械性能依赖于变形的硫化锰夹杂物的定位（各向异性）。二次磷化钢具有更小的延展性，被单独生成来提高机加工性。

通常，零件的可机加工性能是根据以下因素来定义的：表面粗糙度，刀具的寿命，切削力和功率的需求以及切屑的控制。材料的可机加工性能不仅取决于起内在特性和微观结构，而且也依赖于工艺参数的适当选择与控制。

中英文翻译