3.4.3. T3—Flank Wear Measurement

In Table 14, the average VB values that were measured on the clearance faces of the T2 tools are presented.

**Table 14.** VB values obtained from measurements performed on the clearance faces of T3 tools.


Observing the values presented in Table 13, it was concluded that T3 tools did not suffer wear in the same manner as the T1 and T2 tools. In fact, the behavior of the wear was like the variation of the Ra values of the studied tools, where T1 and T2 tools produced better results at lower feed rates in terms of surface roughness and even wear (as the wear sustained at a 75% feed rate is very similar to that sustained at 100%). However, in the case of T3 tools, it was observed that the best results in terms of wear were obtained at higher feed rates (125%). This can be compared to the results obtained from the surface roughness analysis of this tool, as the best surface quality was also achieved at higher feed rates [11,14].

In terms of amount of wear, a slight decrease in wear for the lowest feed rate value was observed, albeit very similar to the wear sustained at the original feed rate. However, for higher feed rate values, the wear was significantly lower. This fact, coupled with the results obtained from the surface roughness analysis, indicates that this tool has a high-performance for higher feed values, producing low surface roughness values while sustaining less flank wear [11]. Regarding the flank wear variation with the increasing cutting length, as expected, these values rose slightly for higher cutting lengths; however, the main influence in flank wear for this case seemed to be the feed rate.
