Cutting performance and wear mechanisms of SiAlON ceramic tools in high-speed turning of GH4169

Nickel-based superalloys are widely utilized in the production of aviation and gas turbine hot end components due to their excellent mechanical properties. However, their poor machinability and low processing efficiency have hindered their further development in aerospace. SiAlON ceramic tools present superior cutting performance when machining nickel-based superalloys. Firstly, the service lives of circular ceramic cutting tools and diamond-shaped ceramic cutting tools were compared. Studies have shown that circular SiAlON ceramic cutting tools exhibit a longer service life when machining nickel-based superalloys. Additionally, the variation laws of cutting temperature, machined surface quality, wear mechanism, and machine tool current of circular ceramic cutting tools under different cutting speeds (100–250 m/min) were systematically measured and studied. By analyzing the maximum flank wear amount, the optimal cutting parameters were determined as follows: cutting speed v c = 100 m/min, feed rate f r = 0.1 mm/r, and cutting depth a p = 0.1 mm. Experimental results show that among the three ceramic tools, the 6160 (R) consumes the least machine tool current, while the CS100 (R) consumes the most. Moreover, the cutting speed has a significant impact on the machine tool current, whereas the cutting depth and feed rate have a relatively smaller impact. The wear forms and wear mechanisms of the ceramic tools were analyzed using SEM and EDS. Results show that abrasive wear is dominant under low-speed conditions (100 and 150 m/min), and adhesion and diffusion wear increase significantly with the rise of cutting speeds (above 150 m/min). This study offers a foundation for cutting tool selection in high-efficiency machining of GH4169.