3.4. Wear area
Images of the cutting tips before and after machining were captured as shown in Fig. 7. These two images were aligned automatically before subtraction. The software subsequently produces
images shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b) depending on the final condition of the inserts. Moreover, the software is able to exactly calculate the area differences between the two images, indicated by
the black-colored area in Fig. 5(c–d). A larger black area indicates that the inserts have experienced a greater amount of wear, i.e. more material loss has occurred due to machining. The cutting inserts were subjected to machine 12.7 mm diameter stainless steel (316L) with
depths of cut 0.8 mm, 0.2 mm/rev, 40 mm length and 540 rpm of cutting speed without the presence of any cooling liquid.