Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 August 2014
Current demands of higher damage-tolerance in the Aerospace industry resulted inresurging interest in β, or near β, titanium alloys. The combination of attractiveproperties of this class of alloys also led to the consideration of beta alloys forcastings. Such alloys, however, are more difficult to cut than α-β titanium alloys due totheir limited ability to work harden and the effect of β-stabilizers on ductility.These factors affect failure modes and active wear mechanisms of cutting inserts. Thispaper investigates some of the wear modes exhibited by WC-Co inserts when end milling theαnear-βalloy Ti-x.In addition to being of near-β composition, this alloy is characterized by a finesized microstructure (range of 1−5 μm). The study focuses on SEM and EDS observations ofthe wear patterns exhibited by two groups of inserts. The first is uncoated WC-Co, whereasthe second is coated with multi layers of TiAlN. The results of this post-mortem study arecompared to wear patterns, observed under identical conditions, while milling theα-β alloy Ti6Al4V. Results show that inserts used inmachining the Ti-x alloy exhibit wear modes that contrast thoseexhibited when machining Ti64. The paper discusses factors leading to such occurrences andstudies the influence of the alloy microstructure on tool effectiveness and failure modes.