Enhanced Machinability of Additively Manufactured Copper with Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC)-Coated Tools: An Experimental Investigation
摘要
Typically, parts made with additive manufacturing are challenging for machining, which raises expenses and increases tool wear. Copper, a soft and easy-to-workable material, has found new applications in electronics and electrical fields due to its wear resistance, high thermal and electrical conductivity, self-lubrication, and superior corrosion resistance. Hard coatings are used to enhance wear resistance, hardness, and corrosion resistance without altering the bulk material's properties. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is an effective tool coating, and films are thermally stable, highly hard, and have a low friction coefficient, improving chip evacuation and enabling dry machining. The aim of this study is to optimize drilling process parameters, compare the drilling performance of a DLC-coated carbide tool with an uncoated tool for both 0° and 90° printed orientation copper sample obtained by bound powder extrusion (BPE), characterize the burr produced through scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, and evaluate the machined surface's average surface roughness. The study demonstrates that the DLC coating improves surface smoothness across various orientations, decreases tool wear, and increases material removal rates. For the DLC-coated tool at 0° orientation condition, an MRR value of 85.604 × 10−3 g/s is also noted; 586 rpm and 165 mm/min are the optimal process parameters. Similarly, with 90° orientation, an MRR of 11.728 × 10−3 g/s is obtained with optimum process parameters of speed at 3271 rpm and feed rate of 198 mm/min.