Abstract
M.Phil. (Mechanical Engineering)
Titanium alloys have proved to be the working horse in industries, such as aerospace, chemical and biomedical; and especially Ti-6Al-4V alloy owing to their excellent weight-to-strength ratio, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. Such properties define a material that is required for engineering purposes; and therefore, this justifies the use of titanium alloys extensively nowadays. However, titanium alloys are known to be hard to machine materials, due to their low thermal conductivity, poor modulus of elasticity, chemical reactivity and strain hardening. Milling is a machining process, which is known to be a flexible process – with the ability to generate different three-dimensional shapes; and it makes use of a multi-point cutting tool that rotates during milling.
It is known that milling parameters (feed rate, cutting speed/spindle speed and depth of cut) and machining conditions play a critical role in determining the operational efficiency of the workpiece.
The current research project successfully milled Ti-6Al-4V 100x100x7 mm plates, using a vertical-milling machine; while varying the spindle speed (120, 150, and 180 rev/min), depth of cut (1, 1.5, and 2 mm) and keeping the feed rate constant at 4.6 mm/min. Milling was conducted by making use of a tungsten carbide cutting tool; and for each parameter, a new cutting tool was inserted to elude the effect of tool wear; since there are limited research studies on the milling of Ti-6Al-4V, which does not elude the effect of tool wear on the outcome of the milling operation.
Furthermore, milling was conducted under dry conditions and flood conditions – using a synthetic soluble cutting fluid...