Effects of electropulsing cutting on the quenched and tempered 45 steel rods

Electropulsing is introduced into the cutting process for quenched and tempered 45 steel, which is a novel method to improve the material machinability compared with the conventional cutting process. The effects of electropulsing on cutting performances, microstructure evolution, and surface qualities of 45 steel rods were studied. The results indicate that electropulsing is beneficial for the cutting process in 3 aspects as follows: (1) reducing the principal cutting force, surface microhardness and surface roughness of the machined sample dramatically; (2) improving the machining efficiency and prolonging the life of cutting tools; (3) decreasing the thickness of rheological layer which was usually caused by work hardening in the cutting process. The morphology and microstructure of the cutting chips showed that the length of the chips increased significantly with the increase of the current density. The advantage of electropulsing is that it can improve the plastic deformation capability as well as increase the lubricating property between the specimen and the cutting tool.