Abstract
Titanium alloys are extensively applied in the aircraft manufacturing due to their excellent mechanical and physical properties. At present, the α + β alloy Ti6Al4V is the most commonly used titanium alloy in the industry. However, the highest temperature that it can be used only up to 300 °C. BTi-6431S is one of the latest developed high temperature titanium alloys, which belongs to the near-α alloy group and has considerably high tensile strength at 650 °C. This paper investigates the machinability of BTi-6431S in the terms of cutting forces, chip formation and tool wear. The experiments are carried out in a range of cutting parameters and the results had been investigated and analyzed. The investigation shows that: (1) the specific cutting forces in the machining of BTi-6431S alloy are higher than in the machining of Ti6Al4V alloy; (2) the regular saw-tooth chips more easily formed and the shear bands are narrower in the machining of BTi-6431S; (3) SEM and EDS observations of the worn tools indicate that more cobalt elements diffuse into the workpiece from tool inserts during machining of BTi-6431S alloy, which significantly aggravates tool wear rate. The experimental results indicate that the machinability of BTi-6431S near alpha titanium alloy is significantly lower than Ti-6Al-4V alloy.
Highlights
Titanium alloys have been widely used in the manufacturing of aircraft fuselages and gas turbines due to their excellent mechanical and physical properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio and strong corrosion resistance [1]
In the fourth generation jet fighter F-22 the weight proportion of titanium alloys is about 41% [3]
The most commonly used titanium alloy in the aircraft manufacturing process is Ti6Al4V, which belongs to the a + b alloy group and accounts for more than 50% of total titanium alloy production [4]
Summary
Titanium alloys have been widely used in the manufacturing of aircraft fuselages and gas turbines due to their excellent mechanical and physical properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio and strong corrosion resistance [1]. The most commonly used titanium alloy in the aircraft manufacturing process is Ti6Al4V, which belongs to the a + b alloy group and accounts for more than 50% of total titanium alloy production [4]. There are many publications studied the machinability of Ti6Al4V alloy and b group alloys such as Ti555.3 and Ti1023 [7,8,9,10]. A study of the machinability of a kind of neara titanium alloy BTi-6431S compared with the most common titanium alloy Ti6Al4V is carried out and present experimental data for tool wear in turning process
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have