Title: Development of an empirical model for surface roughness in the machining of Al/SiC particulate composites by PCD tool

Authors: K. Palanikumar, G. Sivakumar, J. Paulo Davim

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai – 600 119, Tamilnadu, India. ' Central Instrumentation Services Laboratory, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Campus Santiago, 380-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract: Silicon carbide reinforced aluminium metal matrix (Al/SiC-MMC) composites are finding increased applications in many engineering fields. Accordingly, the accurate machining is needed for industry. In this paper, an empirical model has been developed to predict the surface roughness in machining of Al/SiC-MMC composites using Poly Crystalline Diamond (PCD) tool. Regression analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are used to study the main and interaction effects of machining parameters. The developed model can be effectively used to predict the surface roughness in machining Al/SiC particulate components within the ranges of parameters studied. The influences of different parameters in machining Al/SiC-MMC composites have been analysed in detail.

Keywords: empirical model; turning; Al/SiC particulate composites; PCD tooling; surface roughness; aluminium matrix composites; metal matrix composites; MMC; silicon carbide; machining composites; polycrystalline diamond; machining parameters.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2008.018989

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2008 Vol.32 No.2/3, pp.318 - 332

Published online: 27 Jun 2008 *

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