Abstract
Titanium alloy materials, with excellent chemical and physical properties, are widely applied to the manufacture of key components in the aerospace industry. Nevertheless, its hard-to-machine characteristic causes various problems in the machining process, such as severe tool wear, difficulty to ensure good surface quality, etc. To achieve high efficiency and quality of machining titanium alloy materials, this paper conducted an experimental research on the high-speed milling of TC11 titanium alloy with self-propelled rotary milling cutters. In the work, the wear mechanism of self-propelled rotary milling cutters was explored, the influence of milling velocity was analyzed on the cutting process, and the variation laws were obtained of milling forces, chip morphology and machined surface quality with the milling length. The results showed that in the early and middle stages of milling, the insert coating peeled off evenly under the joint action of abrasive and adhesive wear mechanisms. As the milling length increased, the dense notches occurred on the cutting edge of the cutter, the wear mechanism converted gradually into fatigue wear, and furthermore coating started peeling off the cutting edge with the occurrence of thermal fatigue cracks on the insert. As the milling length was further extended, the milling forces tended to intensify, the chip deformation worsened, and the obvious cracks occurred at the bottom of chips. Moreover, the rise in milling velocity reduced the tool wear resistance, increased obviously the milling forces and the surface roughness.
Research on cutting performance in high-speed milling of TC11 titanium alloy using self-propelled rotary milling cutters
