A Note on Interpreting Tool Temperature Measurements from Thermography

Thermography (thermal imaging) is a well-established experimental method for studying cutting tool temperature distributions. In one form, cutting edge temperatures within the chip / tool contact area are deduced from thermal images of tool faces normal to the cutting edge but offset from the contact region. In general practice, the offset is made as small as possible (<< 1mm) and it is assumed that the observed temperature is the same as that within the contact. In this short communication an approximate analytical model is developed for the influence of the offset on the observed temperature. The predictions from the model are compared with previously unpublished existing results on the machining of Ti alloys (Ti6Al4V and Ti5Al4V) and on steel (AISI 4140). It is shown that ignoring the offset may introduce underestimates of cutting edge temperature of approximate to 30% or more. This is large compared to the usually considered uncertainties of +/- 5% from camera and tool emissivity calibration. There is a need for a dedicated study of this effect.