High Productivity Dry Hobbing System

27 High Productivity Dry Hobbing System Takahide Tokawa *1 Yukihisa Nishimura *1 Yozo Nakamura *1 Conventional hobbing requires coolant, whose use complicates the work process and whose disposal endangers the environment. Dry hobbing requires a hob that can be used without coolant and a hobbing machine that discharges chips. We developed a hob of high-speed steel having a proprietary TiAlN coating and a dry hobbing machine to realize hobbing that is environmentally friendly and cuts total hobbing cost 34%, doubles cutting speed, extends tool life 5 times, and reduces electricity cost 51%. 1. Introduction One of the largest present issues in machining shops is the coolant for lubricating and cooling tools. The coolant pollutes not only the working environment but also the global environment. Furthermore, in the hobbing described here as a typical gear cutting, coolant may additionally cause fires, i.e. it is a safety problem, because waterimmiscible instead of water-miscible coolant is used. Under the circumstances, the development of a noncoolant based hobbing technique (hereafter termed dry cut hobbing) is strongly needed. Many machine tool manufacturers have so far developed dry hobbing techniques using carbide hobs. However, the carbide hobs are expensive and cause unexpected chipping, so that stable production cannot be maintained. Therefore, this type of dry hobbing has not yet been widely applied to practical production lines. 2. Problems related to coolants Coolant has so far been considered to be one of the causes of working environment pollution as well as oil contamination in shops. Furthermore, recently its unfavorable influence upon the global environment has become an issue, burning waste oil causes dioxin emissions and acid rain due to chlorine contained in the coolant. In Europe, where environmental protection is rapidly advancing, it is said that the cost related to coolant accounts for 15 to 30% of machining cost (1), and also in Japan, it is considered that the coolant related costs will further raise machining costs. Dry hobbing not only solves the above mentioned problems, it also eliminates the coolant cost, as well as the electricity costs for the cutting fluid circulatory system and mist collector become unnecessary and cost merits are newly produced. 3. Techniques aiming at dry cutting Recently, various techniques aiming at dry cutting are being reported. For instance, cool air *1 Machine Tool Division manufacturing using -30 o C air instead of coolant blown at the machining point (2) or minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) where only several milliliters of coolant per hour is sprayed in a mist (3) are presented and are being partially commercialized for turning, end milling, and grinding. There is also a design where vegetable oil is used as coolant for achieving pollution-free machining. Dry hobbing intended to be introduced here realizes an absolute dry hobbing without using any special devices. 4. Problems to be solved for dry hobbing Themes for realizing dry hobbing are as follows: (1) Development of a hob ensuring a stable tool life without coolant (2) Development of a hobbing machine capable of discharging swarfs promptly without coolant Absolute non-coolant dry hobbing cannot be realized until both a hob and a hobbing machine as shown above are developed. Therefore, in order to solve both problems, the tool and machine have been developed together. 5. Development of high-speed-steel hobs for dry cutting 5.1 Dry hobbing with conventional high- speed-steel hobs The development of high-speed-steel hobs for dry cutting was started with dry cutting using conventional high-speed-steel hobs for wet cutting. The specifications of the workpices, hobs and machining conditions are shown in Table 1. The cutting speed was set to be 200 m/min, i.e. twice the 100 m/min for conventional machining with coolant (hereafter termed wet cutting). The hob used had a TiCN PVD-coating on a high-speed-steel base material. Fig. 1 shows the wear state of a hob after machining 26 parts without shifting the hob. The left flank is so severely worn that the tool life limit has been

28 Outside peripheral surface Outside peripheral surface Left tooth surface Cutting face Right tooth surface Left tooth surface Cutting face Right tooth surface 1 mm 1 mm Fig. 1 Wear after dry hobbing with conventional hobs Fig. 2 Wear after dry hobbing with super dry hobs The wear conditions after machining 26 workpieces using a The wear conditions after machining 26 workpieces using a super conventional hob without shifting is shown. Abnormal wear is dry hob without shifting is shown. Abnormal wear is hardly observed on the left tooth surface. observed. Table 1 Conditions of test hobbing Module 2.25 Number of teeth 49 Specifi- Helix angle 21.5 cations Whole depth 6.5 mm of workpieces Face width 40 mm Material SCM 415 Hardness HB 170 Specifi- Outside diameter φ 75 mm cations Row number 3 of hobs Gash number 16 Machining conditions Cutting speed Feed rate Cutting method 200 mm/min 2.4 mm/rev. Same direction climb Table2 1 Conditions Application of test hobbing of super dry hob Workpiece Cutting speed Tool life Automobile transmission gear (5.3 times) Automobile transmission gear (5.8 times) exceeded so as to be unusable. The TiN PVD-coated hobs also show about the same result. 5.2 High-speed-steel dry cutting hob The newly developed high-speed-steel dry cutting hob, termed super dry hob, has a special TiAlN composition lamina, which has excellent heat and wear resistance and can be PVD-coated onto the highspeed-steel base material for improved wear resistance. Fig. 2 shows the wear conditions of the super dry hob after machining under the conditions shown in Table 1. 1 Unlike the conventional high-speed-steel hob shown in Fig. 1, no wear is observed. Fig. 3 shows the tool lives of the super dry hobs which are estimated by extrapolation from the test data. In the super dry hobs, the coat remains on each cutting face. Fig. 3 also shows the tool lives for the conventional wet cut hobs. The coat for wet cutting is TiN, therefore, in order to evaluate under a commonly used condition, the tool life is measured by the machined length before the flank wear reachs 0.1 mm with the coat removed from the cutting face. When a typical gear material, i.e. SCM415, SCM420, or SCr420 is machined by dry hobbing with a super dry hob, the tool life is estimated to be about five times longer at the cutting speed of 200 m/min, which is twice the wet cutting speed. The above estimation has been verified in a practical production line. The results are shown in Table 2, which indicates that the tool life is more than 5 times the conventional life at the cutting speed of 200 m/min, double of a conventional hob. Regarding machining precision, the machined surfaces were finished with a higher precision than that in wet cutting, with no scuffing observed.

29 Flank wear (mm) 0.1 Wet cutting TiN coated Cutting face without coating Cutting speed: 100 m/min : SCM 415 : SCM 420 : SCr 420 Super dry Cutting speed: 200 m/min 100 200 300 400 Cutting length (m/no-shift) Fig. 3 Tool life of super dry hobs The super dry hob (with coated cutting face) achieves twice as fast cutting speed and five times longer tool life. The results that have so far been obtained are based on the hobs with coated cutting faces. Therefore, in order to maintain this state, re-coating is required after re-sharpening the hob. The re-coating technique, which Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has already established, ensures the high performance, double the machining speed and 5 times longer tool life. Furthermore, in the super dry hobbing, even if a resharpened tool is used without re-coating and with no coat on the cutting face, a tool life of more than 3 times can be achieved at the same machining speed as that in conventional wet cutting. The result is the performance largely exceeding that in conventional wet cutting. 5.3 Factors which realizes dry cutting The reason why the TiAlN coating originated by MHI can make high-speed-steel hobs bear dry cutting at a cutting speed higher than that in wet cutting is thought to be associated partially with the properties of TiAlN. Fig. 4 shows the result of the high-temperature oxidation test of TiN and TiAlN laminae. The tests were carried out at 800 o C for 5 hours in atmosphere. TiN was oxidized throughout the whole area of the lamina and changed into Ti oxide (TiO 2 ). On the other hand, the TiAlN oxidation is shallow, so that the properties are kept as they are, except for the very thin oxidized surface layer. The surface is changed into Al oxide (Al 2 ). From this result, in dry cutting, the TiN lamina is rapidly worn because it deteriorates into TiO 2, which is low in hardness. On the other hand, high speed dry cutting makes the TiAlN lamina oxidize into Al 2 at its surface, because TiAlN has a composition peculiar to MHI. Al 2 has the merit that its hardness does not decrease at high temperatures. Although Al 2 can be coated only by Composition (at%) Composition (at%) 100 50 0 100 50 Al oxide Ti oxide 1 2 3 4 5 6 Depth from the surface of the coat (a) TiN coat (Thickness: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Depth from the surface of the coat (b) TiAlN coat (Thickness: Fig. 4 Results of high temperature oxidizing tests of the coat Compositions of TiN and TiAlN after 5 hours at 800 O C in atmosphere is shown. means of CVD, TiAlN can also be coated by means of PVD, keeping the same effect. The oxidation is limited to the surface, so that the lamina is not oxidized inside thus keeping adhesion. As a result, TiAlN is thought to show a high wear resistance during dry cutting. 6.Development of a dry hobbing machine 6.1Problems of conventional hobbing machines Most conventional wet hobbing machines are vertical. Dry hobbing machines using carbide hobs are also usually vertical, following the conventional machine configurtion, so that flushing by coolant is required to discharge the swarf falling onto the machine beds. Accordingly, in order to realize absolute dry cutting, the construction of hobbing machines was thoroughly reviewed. 6.2 Dry hobbing machines Fig. 5 shows the developed dry hobbing machine. The configuration is changed from vertical to horizontal and under the machining part a large opening is provided so as to let the swarf fall by gravity through the opening. In the bottom of the opening, a chip conveyor is positioned to quickly discharge the falling chips to the outside. In this way, chip disposal can be done without flushing coolant. Furthermore, since hot chips do not touch the bed, thermal deformation of the hobbing machine can be minimized. As shown in Fig. 5, the height of the horizontal type can be decreased, making it shorter than the N Al O O Ti Ti N

30 Falling by gravity 1 150 (a) Dry cut hobbing machine Flushing by coolant Table 3 Specification of dry cut hobbing machines GN 10 A GN 20 A GN 25 A Maximum workpiece diameter 100 200 250 (mm) Maximum machining modules 4 6 8 Maximum hob diameter 70 110 150 (mm) Hob rotation speed (min -1 ) 300 to 3 000 200 to 2 000 200 to 2 000 Maximum table rotation speed 300 300 90 (min -1 ) Main motor horsepower (kw) 7.5 15 22 1 340 (b) Conventional hobbing machine Fig. 5 Comparison in chip disposal between dry hobbing machines and conventional hobbing machines Dry hobbing machines can quickly discharge swarf by gravity falling without coolant. vertical type (1 340 --> 1 150 mm), therefore, it is basically rigid. However, since a large opening exists under the machining part for smooth chip disposal, a careful analysis of the bed rigidity was required. The rigidity was analyzed by the finite element method. The rigidities of the other parts besides the machine bed were also analyzed, so that dry hobbing machines having higher rigidity than those of conventional vertical hobbing machines were produced. In order to cope with variously sized workpices, three types were developed. These specifications are shown in Table 3. 7.Benefits of dry hobbing Fig. 6 shows example trial estimations of the cost reductions by super dry hobs. A 34% cost reduction can be expected by the tool life extension, productivity improvement, and electricity savings. In machining most common automobile transmission gears, 37% of the energy is saved in comparison with conventional wet cutting. With wet cutting, besides a pump for the coolant circulation, coolant-related units such as the oil controller for cooling coolant heated by hot chips and a mist collector for recovering oil mist are necessary. Understandably, electric power consumption must be higher. The super dry hobs have another merit, they save Machining cost per workpiece (yen/piece) 16 17 Conventional Items Tool cost Labor cost Electric power charge Coolant Total 11.3 Specifications of workpiece Modules : 2 Number of teeth : 35 Outside diameter : 34% Facewidth : 20 mm reduction 10.6 Dry cut Tool cost Labor cost Cost reduction 16.0 yen/piece 11.3 yen/piece 15.0 yen/piece 10.0 yen/piece 1.3 yen/piece 0.6 yen/piece 0.7 yen/piece 0 yen/piece 33.0 yen/piece 21.9 yen/piece Fig. 6 Cost reductions by dry hobbing An example of cost reduction trial estimation is shown. Extending tool life and improving productivity reduces machining cost by about 34%. installation space and the machine is more compact because no coolant units are necessary. Furthermore, dry hobbing has a cutting efficiency of about double that of conventional wet cutting, improving the productivity and reducing the required number of hobbing machines. 8.Examples of commercialized machines Since the high productivity dry cutting system with the combination of the super dry hobs and the dry hobbing machines were first introduced to the world in October 1997, the system has attracted much user attention. As a result, the systems have already been operating in practical production lines both domestically and overseas. During commercialization, chip disposal and increased work temperature sometimes caused

31 problems. In continuous machining with manual workpiece loading, the temperature increases were not observed in either workpieces or hobs, so that the overball diameter (OBD) variation was little and the Cp (process capability factor) was as good as 3. 067 over the tolerance of 40 µm. On the other hand, in continuous machining with automatic workpiece loading, the OBD variation was large and chip involvement sometimes occurred. Therefore, the air blow has been strengthened and chips have been positively removed to stabilize the machining precision and eliminate chip involvement problems, so that the tool life has been further extended. 9.Conclusions The following results were obtained by the development of the dry hobbing techniques using high-speed-steel hobs. (1) Dry cutting by means of high-speed-steel hobs, i.e. super dry hobs was commercialized for the first time in the world by developing MHI s special TiAlN-coat and the high-speed-steel base material specially used for it. (2) Dry hobbing machines with coolant-free swarf discharge capability were developed. (3) This combination of super dry hobs and dry hobbing machines realized the hobbing process with absolutely no coolant, improved working environment, and contributed to the improvement of the global environment. (4) Cutting speed was largely increased, by two times and tool life was extended by five times. (5) Since coolant-related units are eliminated, electricity was saved by 51%, so that the machining costs could be reduced by about 34%. According to the above results, it can be said that the dry hobbing was developed as a system making the environmental improvement and the machining cost reduction compatible. References (1) Yokokawa, Kazuhiko et al., Cooling Air Cutting and Grinding Technology for Acquiring ISO 14000, Mechanical Engineering Vol.45, No.8 (1997) p.52 (2) Honma, Hiroyuki et al., Study of Environment Conscious CBN Cooling Air Grinding Technology, Journal of The Japan Society of Precision Engineering Vol.62, No.11 (1996) p.1 638 (3) Sato, Hiroki et al., Turning Using Extremely Small Amounts of Cutting Fluid, Transactions of The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Vol.62, No.604 (1996) p.4 696