Investigation and modeling of the tangential cutting force of the Titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V in the orthogonal turning process

Abstract

Titanium alloys have been widely used in the aerospace, biomedical, automotive and petroleum industries because of their good strength-to-weight ratio and superior corrosion resistance. However, it is very difficult to machine them due to their poor machinability. Cutting of titanium alloys has always been a topic of great interest for the aeronautic industrial production and scientific research worldwide. Titanium alloys are regarded as extremely difficult to cut materials due to their several inherent properties. This phenomenon might be desirable in reducing the level of the cutting forces and by improving chip's evacuation. In this paper, an experimental study of localized shearing and tangential cutting force is carried out for orthogonal turning in a range of cutting speeds from 50 to 250 m/min and different feed rate from 0.1 to 0.2 mm/rev. The influence of cutting speed and feed rate and fixed depth of cut on the tangential cutting force is examined. Secondly, the model for the Cutting force, as a function of cutting parameters, is obtained using the response surface methodology (RSM). Finally, the adequacy of the developed mathematical model is proved by ANOVA. The results indicate that the feed rate and the cutting speed are the dominant factors affecting the tangential turning Force, which is minimized when the feed rate and depth of cut are set to the lowest level, while the cutting speed is set to the highest level. This reveals that the prediction system established in this study produces satisfactory results, which are improved performance over other models in the literature. The enhanced method can be readily applied to the titanium alloys metal cutting processes with greater confidence.