Study on the performance of different tools in high-speed dry cutting of 2219 aluminium alloy

There are a large number of 2219 aluminum alloy cutting requirements in launch vehicle manufacturing process, and its processing efficiency is one of the important factors affecting the manufacturing cycle of fuel tanks. Although 2219 aluminum alloy is a kind of free-cutting-material, the performances of different tools is quite different in their high-speed cutting. In this paper, the changing rules of cutting load, cutting edge morphology and chip morphology with tool wear in the high speed cutting of 2219 aluminum alloy at 1004 m/min are studied with uncoated, aurora DLC coated and diamond coated tools, which are popularly used in the market for aluminum alloy. Results show that the uncoated tool and the aurora DLC coated tool wear faster. As tool wearing, the chip curling effect decreases and the surface roughness increases. There is a lot of adhesion on the tool surface and the shape of cutting edge varies significantly. The diamond coated tools showed a small amount of micro-chipping but no significant wear, maintaining great cutting edge integrity throughout. Based on the comprehensive consideration of tool cost and cutting efficiency, diamond coated tools are the highly recommended with the highest cost performance in 2219 aluminum alloy high-speed dry cutting.