Open Access Article

Title: Experimental study on micro-milling of Ti6Al4V with minimum quantity lubrication

Authors: Xiaohu Zheng; Zhiqiang Liu; Ming Chen; Xibin Wang

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD. Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD. Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD. Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, China ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, 5 South Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China

Abstract: The micro-milling of titanium alloy is a challenging task. Minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is an eco-friendly coolant and low cost method for manufacturing compared with traditional coolant method. This paper studied the micro-milling mechanism of titanium alloy by analysing the tool wear, tool life, cutting vibration, surface finish and burr formation under MQL and dry cutting conditions. Experimental results show that MQL method in micro-milling will significantly improve tool life and reduce material adhesion. In order to study the influence of air fluid on micro-milling process, cutting vibration signal and surface morphology under different air fluid parameters were measured and analysed. Analysis results indicate that the air fluid direction of 180° and 0° aggravate tool vibration and lead to poor surface quality compared with the direction of 270° and 90°. Air pressure also has great influence on tool vibration and burr formation. The burr size under 0.45 MPa is bigger than other air pressures.

Keywords: micromilling; MQL; dry milling; titanium alloys; tool wear; cutting vibration; FFT analysis; surface roughness; microburrs; fluid direction; air pressure; micromachining; minimum quantity lubrication; tool life; surface finish; burr formation; dry cutting; surface quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2013.057600

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2013 Vol.9 No.5/6, pp.570 - 582

Received: 31 Oct 2012
Accepted: 14 Apr 2013

Published online: 31 Mar 2014 *