The focus of this article has been to analyse the machinability, with focus on surface integrity, of oxygen-free copper (OFC) and niobium during turning operations. The results from machining OFC proved that all of the tools that was tested can be used to achieve a surface roughness below Ra = 0.8 μm with the correct cutting data. From the results when machining niobium it showed that only the cemented carbide tool with a nose radius of 1.2 mm was able to achieve a surface roughness of Ra = 0.8 μm or greater. The cutting resistance based on the measured cutting forces was high for both of the materials.

Oxygen-free copper; niobium; metal cutting