1. Introduction
The study of tool surface texture has been gaining popularity in recent years. Although the dry cutting process can reduce the pollution and waste of the cutting fluid, the dry cutting process also tends to increase the friction and adhesion between the tool and the chip contact area [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5]. More researchers have begun to change the contact area between the tool and the workpiece to reduce tool wear and friction. Tool surface texture constitutes a new research direction.
Sugihara et al. conducted various experiments and simulation studies to demonstrate the cutting performance of tool textures. They studied the effect of different tool texture surfaces on tool life. By milling the workpiece section, the flank texture developed in this research can significantly reduce friction. They also conducted various cutting experiments to research the tool pit texture, which brought about a significant improvement on the tribological properties of the tool rake face and a reduced speed of crater wear [
6,
7]. Compared with tool groove texture, it has a superior performance in the wet cutting process. Some experimental studies have shown [
8] that the high-speed cutting of Inconel 718 nickel-based alloys by a cubic-boron-nitride tool with additional texture on the flank surface can not only improve surface quality of the workpiece and cutting performance, but also increase the life of the service tool. Functional microstructure surfaces exhibit excellent performance in many interfacial contact fields. For improving the accuracy of texture topography prediction, the profile of cutting edge was considered into the simulation model according to coordinate transformation. The UVAM experiments were carried out on difficult-to-machine materials (Ti6AL4V) in order to verify the accuracy of numerical design, surface simulation, and texture generation. The relationship between the machining quality and the ultrasonic milling parameters were also revealed.
In addition, the wettability of surface textures was observed. The results indicated that the micro textures generated by UVAM contributed to the interface modification. In summary, the research on the texture generation and interference in UVAM can expand the scope of application in the field of interface contact.
For the purpose of improving the workpiece’s machining quality, the tool is surface textured [
9]. The tungsten carbide tool is used for turning aluminum alloys. The side of the tool is machined with parallel and vertical grains. The researchers used ABAQUS to analyze the chips during cutting. The formation mechanism was simulated and studied. The boundary conditions were set as placement and rotation with a velocity of 0.2 m/s, as well as a workpiece meshing rate of 0.0005. The research results showed an increased tool life and a significantly improved surface quality in comparison with ordinary tools. In the cutting process, the tool was concerned with the tribological properties between the tool and the workpiece. If the tool wore sharply, then the cutting efficiency and the workpiece’s surface quality would be reduced, and the tool’s service life will be shortened. In this regard [
10], the rake face of the tool was processed with triangular micro/nano texture by laser and fluorinated by fluorosilane. The tribological properties of the tool’s rake face were evaluated through simulation experiments, friction experiments, and wear experiments.
Traditional wet cutting fluids are harmful to operator’s physical and mental health, as well as to the environment. While researchers are constantly exploring auxiliary processing methods, such as minimum quantity lubricant (MQL), they are equally concerned about how to improve traditional dry cutting. Roughness is one of the important indicators for judging the quality of surface processing. In order to efficiently predict the surface roughness of nickel metal during milling, a multivariate signal monitoring system for nickel metal processing status was built and used with the sound level meter, the three-way vibration sensor, the industrial camera, and the roughness measuring instrument to collect noise, vibration, surface texture, and roughness during milling [
11]. The results showed that the prediction accuracy of the obtained roughness model based on PSO-LSSVM was 92.54%. The research could provide a theory guide for scientific monitoring of the surface roughness of milling workpieces. The tribological properties of dry hard cutting could be improved by texturing the tool surface; Kishor [
12] designed six different surface textures and conducted dry cutting experiments. The results showed that the textured tool could replace wet cutting [
13]. Reference [
14] used cemented carbide tools to dry cut alumina ceramics, and the use of flank textured tools could reduce tool wear. A textured tool was used to cut AISI 1045 without the use of cutting fluid, and workpieces cut by micro-textured tool would cause secondary cutting, which would increase cutting friction, cutting force, hardness, and chip deformation, etc. [
15].
In order to determine the effect of tool micro-texture and magnetic nanofluid coupling on the tribological properties of the tool, a laser was used to engrave micro-scale grooves parallel to the main cutting edge on the rake face of the tool, and a comparative study was carried out with ordinary tools. The cutting fluid was selected to contain 30% magnetic nanofluid, and it was compared and analyzed with ordinary cutting fluid. The results of turning experiments demonstrated that coupling tool micro-texture with magnetic nanofluid may lower the cutting force, enhance the surface roughness, and reduce the tool wear, while, moreover, the turning effect was better than that of the traditional turning [
16]. Antifriction performance of the tool was improved by using a composite lyophilic texture tool surface, and the polycrystalline diamond tool was used to turn the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy in condition with minimal lubrication. As per the law of wear and tear, the results revealed that polycrystalline diamond tools with lyophilic texture had less cutting force, friction coefficient, and tool wear [
17]. Su et al. [
18] investigated polycrystalline diamond textured tools’ cutting performance in dry cutting conditions and concluded that the textured cutting tools outperformed conventional tools in terms of tribological performance. Rodrigo L. et al. [
19] studied the interaction law between chips and rake face texture through experiments and showed that the interaction would affect the formation of chip morphology.
The performance of micro-textured (grooves, convexes, dimples) drills with different geometries in deep holes in Inconel 718 superalloy was studied by the finite element method. The influence of each parameter on the machining performance of the microdrill was tested by adjusting the spindle speed. A simulation model was created to examine the changing laws of thrust, temperature, and tool wear. The secondary cutting phenomenon of micro-texture was proposed, and the influence rule of the width of micro-texture on the secondary cutting phenomenon was revealed, indicating that the micro-texture could reduce the thrust of drilling [
20]. Vasumathy et al. [
21] conducted tool texture research, which revealed that the texture improved chip adhesion on the rake face and lowered the cutting force when compared to traditional tools. Roshan Sasi [
22] studied surface textured tools, and discovered that HSS textured tools could improve cutting performance significantly. The tool surface texture was beneficial in order to improve the tribological characteristics of cutting, which was a promising cutting technology. The surface texture was usually on the rake face, and its geometric size, geometric shape, and other designs were different. Surface texture could improve tribological properties, help reduce cutting forces, and improve workpiece surface quality [
13].
The research showed that the tool micro-texture had superior cutting performance, but its discussion was still focused on general simulation and general experiments; as such, its cutting performance and laws need to be further studied. This paper uses simulation and the Taguchi experiment to discuss the impact of various tool surface texture sizes on tool cutting performance by changing the width, depth, spacing, and other characteristics of the tool texture. As a result, this study will fill the gap, demonstrating both the theoretical and practical significance.