Abstract
In this study the characteristics of chip formation of the cold drawn Bi-S free machining steels were assessed. And for comparison those of the cold drawn Pb-S free machining steel the hot rolled low carbon steel which has MnS as free machining inclusions and the conventional steels were also investigated. During chip formation the cold drawn free machining steels show relatively little change in thickness and width of chip compare to those of the conventional carbon steels. And a single parameter which indicates the degree of deformation during chip formation chip cross-section area ratio is introduced. The chip cross-section area ratio is defined as chip cross-section area is divided by undeformed chip cross-section area. The variational patters of the chip cross-section area ratio of the materials cut are similar to those of the shear strain values. The shear stress however seems to be dependent on the carbon content of the materials. The cold drawn Bi-S and Pb-S steels show nearly the same chip forming behaviors and the energy consumed during chip formation is almost same. A low carbon steel without free machining aids shows poor chip breakability due to its high ductility. By introducing a small amount of free machining inclusions such as MnS Bi, Pb or merely increasing carbon content the chip breakability improves significantly.