Grooving Trochoidal turning When machining steam & gas turbine components for the power generation industry, security is vital. Grooving is one of the most challenging operations due to the fact that many of the features produced have poor accessibility. Let’s take a look at a grooving operation being performed on a gas turbine disc. When conventional grooving methods are performed in HRSA’s & stainless materials there can be negative effects. For example: The generation of very high and irregular cutting forces vibration tendencies, poor chip control, and residual stresses within the component. These problems can be overcome by using a machining strategy called trochoidal grooving. Let’s take a closer look at this method. It’s a slicing technique using high feed per rev and low depth of cut. The programmed radii should be at least 0.5 x the insert radius. By reducing the radial depth of cut to 15% of the insert diameter, chip thickness is significantly reduced. This means feed rate can be increased by approximately 40%. This method is best performed with round or CoroCut profiling inserts. This operation can also be performed with an angular grooving insert. For greater stability however the feed force should always be into the direction of the tool. To summarize, by using the trochoidal technique, you can avoid, chip jamming, vibration tendencies and residual stresses. Thereby achieving higher process security. For further information, please contact one of our specialists or visit our web site.