Experimental Investigation of the Machinability of Epoxy Reinforced With Graphene Platelets

Author(s):  
Ishank Arora ◽  
Johnson Samuel ◽  
Nikhil Koratkar

The objective of this research is to study the effect of graphene platelet (GPL) loading on the machinability of epoxy-based GPL composites. To this end, micro-milling experiments are conducted on composites with varying GPL content and their results are contrasted against that of plain epoxy. The material microstructure is characterized using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy methods. Chip morphology, cutting force, machined surface morphology, and tool wear, are employed as the machinability measures for comparative purposes. At lower loadings of GPL (0.1% and 0.2% by weight), the deformation of the polymer phase plays a major role; whereas, at a higher loading of 0.3% by weight, the GPL agglomerates and interface-dominated failure dictates the machining response. The minimum chip thickness value of the composites decreases with an increase in GPL loading. Overall, the 0.2% GPL composite has the highest cutting force and the lowest tool wear.

Author(s):  
Ishank Arora ◽  
Johnson Samuel ◽  
Nikhil Koratkar

The objective of this research is to study the effect of graphene platelet (GPL) loading on the machinability of epoxy-based GPL composites. To this end, micro-milling experiments are conducted on composites with varying GPL content and their results are contrasted against that of plain epoxy. The material microstructure is characterized using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy methods. Chip morphology, cutting force, machined surface morphology, and tool wear, are employed as the machinability measures for comparative purposes. At lower loadings of GPL (0.1% and 0.2% by weight) the deformation of the polymer phase plays a major role, whereas at a higher loading of 0.3% by weight, the GPL agglomerates and interface-dominated failure dictates the machining response. The minimum chip thickness value of the composites decreases with an increase in GPL loading. Overall, the 0.2% GPL composite has the highest cutting force and the lowest tool wear.


2013 ◽  
Vol 690-693 ◽  
pp. 2030-2035
Author(s):  
Shu Bao Yang ◽  
Hong Chao Ni ◽  
Guo Hui Zhu

Ti6Al4V alloy is widely used in the aircraft industry, marine and the commercial applications due to its excellent comprehensive properties. However, its poor machinability prevents it from application widely, and the rapid tool wear is one of the key factors. The FEM models of cutting titanium alloy are established. The effect of tool wear on chip morphology, cutting temperature and cutting force are studied. The simulation results show that: the cutting force and cutting temperature will rise with the increase of tool wear. Furthermore, the degree of chip deformation will improve, but the frequency of serrated chip tooth occurred will decrease.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1495
Author(s):  
Tongshun Liu ◽  
Kedong Zhang ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Chengdong Wang

The minimum uncut chip thickness (MUCT), dividing the cutting zone into the shear region and the ploughing region, has a strong nonlinear effect on the cutting force of micro-milling. Determining the MUCT value is fundamental in order to predict the micro-milling force. In this study, based on the assumption that the normal shear force and the normal ploughing force are equivalent at the MUCT point, a novel analytical MUCT model considering the comprehensive effect of shear stress, friction angle, ploughing coefficient and cutting-edge radius is constructed to determine the MUCT. Nonlinear piecewise cutting force coefficient functions with the novel MUCT as the break point are constructed to represent the distribution of the shear/ploughing force under the effect of the minimum uncut chip thickness. By integrating the cutting force coefficient function, the nonlinear micro-milling force is predicted. Theoretical analysis shows that the nonlinear cutting force coefficient function embedded with the novel MUCT is absolutely integrable, making the micro-milling force model more stable and accurate than the conventional models. Moreover, by considering different factors in the MUCT model, the proposed micro-milling force model is more flexible than the traditional models. Micro-milling experiments under different cutting conditions have verified the efficiency and improvement of the proposed micro-milling force model.


Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1338
Author(s):  
Lakshmanan Selvam ◽  
Pradeep Kumar Murugesan ◽  
Dhananchezian Mani ◽  
Yuvaraj Natarajan

Over the past decade, the focus of the metal cutting industry has been on the improvement of tool life for achieving higher productivity and better finish. Researchers are attempting to reduce tool failure in several ways such as modified coating characteristics of a cutting tool, conventional coolant, cryogenic coolant, and cryogenic treated insert. In this study, a single layer coating was made on cutting carbide inserts with newly determined thickness. Coating thickness, presence of coating materials, and coated insert hardness were observed. This investigation also dealt with the effect of machining parameters on the cutting force, surface finish, and tool wear when turning Ti-6Al-4V alloy without coating and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)-AlCrN coated carbide cutting inserts under cryogenic conditions. The experimental results showed that AlCrN-based coated tools with cryogenic conditions developed reduced tool wear and surface roughness on the machined surface, and cutting force reductions were observed when a comparison was made with the uncoated carbide insert. The best optimal parameters of a cutting speed (Vc) of 215 m/min, feed rate (f) of 0.102 mm/rev, and depth of cut (doc) of 0.5 mm are recommended for turning titanium alloy using the multi-response TOPSIS technique.


Author(s):  
Tao Chen ◽  
Weijie Gao ◽  
Guangyue Wang ◽  
Xianli Liu

Torus cutters are increasingly used in machining high-hardness materials because of high processing efficiency. However, due to the large hardness variation in assembled hardened steel workpiece, the tool wear occurs easily in machining process. This severely affects the machined surface quality. Here, we conduct a research on the tool wear and the machined surface quality in milling assembled hardened steel mold with a torus cutter. The experimental results show the abrasive wear mechanism dominates the initial tool wear stage of the torus cutter. As the tool wear intensifies, the adhesive wear gradually occurs due to the effect of alternating stress and impact load. Thus, the mixing effect of the abrasive and adhesive wears further accelerates tool wear, resulting in occurrence of obvious crater wear band on the rake face and coating tearing area on the flank face. Finally, the cutter is damaged by the fatigue wear mechanism, reducing seriously the cutting performance. With increase of flank wear, moreover, there are increasingly obvious differences in both the surface morphology and the cutting force at the two sides of the joint seam of the assembled hardened steel parts, including larger height difference at the two sides of the joint seam and sudden change of cutting force, as a result, leading to decreasing cutting stability and deteriorating seriously machined surface quality.


Author(s):  
Yinfei Yang ◽  
Jinjin Han ◽  
Xiuqing Hao ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Ning He

High aspect ratio micro-grooves are critical structures in the micro-electromechanical system. However, problems like rapid tool wear, low processing efficiency, and inferior machined quality in micro-milling of high aspect ratio micro-grooves by length–diameter ratio tools are particularly significant. In this work, a combined micro-milling method based on water-free alcohol as the cutting fluid and laser deburring is proposed to investigate the high aspect ratio micro-groove generation of oxygen-free high-conductivity copper TU1. Parametric experiments and high aspect ratio micro-groove experiments were conducted to investigate the surface quality, cutting forces, and tool wear. The water-free alcohol was employed to improve the tool life and machined surface quality. In the case of the oxygen-free high-conductivity copper TU1 material, a satisfactory high aspect ratio micro-groove (groove-width = 0.2 μm and aspect ratio = 2.5) with a nanoscale surface roughness ( Ra = 68 nm) was obtained under the preferred machining conditions. Furthermore, the deburring process of the high aspect ratio micro-groove by the laser technology was conducted to achieve ideal machined quality of the top surfaces.


Author(s):  
Gongyu Liu ◽  
Jiaqiang Dang ◽  
Weiwei Ming ◽  
Qinglong An ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
...  

The milling of thin-walled workpieces is a common process in many industries. However, the machining defects are easy to occur due to the vibration and/or deformation induced by the poor stiffness of the thin structures, particularly when side milling the edges of plates. To this problem, an attempt by inclining the tool to a proper tilt angle in milling the edges of plates was proposed in this paper, in order to decrease the cutting force component along the direction of the lowest stiffness of the plates, and therefore to mitigate the machining vibration and improve the machined surface quality effectively. First, the milling force model in consideration of the undeformed chip thickness and the tool-workpiece engagement (TWE) was introduced in detail. Then, a new analytical assessment model based on the precisely established cutting force model was developed so as to obtain the optimum tool tilt angle for the minimum force-induced defects after the operation. Finally, the reliability and correctness of the theoretical force model and the proposed assessment model were validated by experiments. The methodology in this paper could provide practical guidance for achieving high-quality machined surface in the milling operation of thin-walled workpieces.


Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na ◽  
Xu ◽  
Han ◽  
Liu ◽  
Lu

In this paper, plain aluminum was chosen as matrix alloy and graphene reinforced aluminum alloy composites was successfully prepared via powder metallurgy approach. Micro-milling experiments were conducted to explore the effect of varying graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) content (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% by weight) on the machinability of composites and their machining results were compared with that of plain aluminum. Chip morphology, milling force, and machined surface morphology were used as the machinability measures. Experiment results showed that when the content of GNFs is less than 1.5%, the grain refinement of GNFs plays a major role. The hardness and density of the composites are increased. When the content of GNFs is more than 1.5%, the agglomeration phenomenon is obvious, which reduces the hardness and density of the composites. Micro-milling results show that the milling force is the highest when the GNFs content is 1%, and curling degree of chips increased as FPT increase for a certain content of graphene of composites. Furthermore, when the content of GNFs in composites is more than 1%, the surface roughness of milling grooves is greatly improved, which may be related to the lubrication of graphene and the formation of continuous chips.


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