Journal of Modern Processes in Manufacturing and Production, Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2018 47 The Effectiveness of Ceramic Wiper Tool in Turning of Monel K500 Mohammad Lotfi 1 , Saeid Amini 1* , Sayed Ali Sajjady 1 , Adil Hussein Juaifer 1 1 Department of Manufacturing, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran * Email of Corresponding Author: amini.s@kashanu.ac.ir Received: October 3, 2018; Accepted: January 12, 2019 Abstract In this study, turning operation of Monel K500 copper-nickel super-alloy was evaluated. Ceramic cutting tools with two different cutting noses (conventional and wiper) were utilized. At first, the experimental tests were designed by using central composite design method. After implementation of the tests, the statistical models for output data (surface roughness, cutting force, and flank wear) have been developed. Furthermore, the effect of cutting parameters on output data was taken into account with help of analysis of variance. In third step, the optimal cutting condition was introduced for both cutting tools by using response surface method. In total, it was revealed that low depth of cut and feed rate coupled with high cutting speed is an optimal condition for turning of Monel super-alloy when ceramic tools are selected. In particular, the positive effect of wiper tool on output data was more when depth of cut has been lower than the length of wiper edge. Keywords Turning, Surface Roughness, Monel K500, Tool Wear, RSM, Wiper 1. Introduction Feed rate and nose radius are the most effective factors on surface roughness in turning operation. By considering the fact that increase of tool nose radius increases cutting forces, increment of this geometry has some limitations [1, 2]. Therefore, wiper tools are introduced by researchers to solve this problem. A wiper edge is located in nose radius where the straight edge meets the corner radius. The remarkable properties of ceramic tools are exceptionally good hardness (very resistant against wear) and toughness, also excellent thermal conductivity [3]. These properties of ceramic tools let the users to utilize higher range of cutting speeds during turning operation [4]. Some works carried out by wiper ceramic tools in turning of different materials are reviewed in order to find the advantage of wiper ceramic tools. Aouici et al. evaluated the performance of wiper ceramic tools by considering cutting forces and flank wear in hard turning of AISI 4140 steel [5]. They used RSM method to find the effective factors. They stated that the uncoated ceramic tools performed better than coated ones regarding force analysis. In addition, wiper ceramic tools performed better than conventional one regarding flank wear analysis. Ozel et al. investigated surface roughness and flank wear in finish turning of AISI D2 steel by using wiper ceramic tools [6]. They showed that surface roughness with the value of lower than 0.2  is obtainable when wiper tools are used. Besides, they developed a neural networks model to predict output values. Grzesik and Wanat studied generated surface finish of quenched alloy steel during hard turning by using conventional and wiper tools [7]. The topography analysis showed that sharp peaks were generated when conventional tools were used. But blunt peaks were seen when wiper tools were used. Davim and