Assessment of cutting performance and surface quality on turning pure polytetrafluoroethylene

Abstract

Considering the excellent properties of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the demand for this material in semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been rapidly growing in recent years. PTFE parts with special shapes can be efficiently produced by mechanical cutting methods. The main objective of the present study is to conduct turning experiments to evaluate the cutting performance and surface quality of pure PTFE. In this regard, the mechanism of the chips’ formation, cutting temperature, and cutting force were analyzed to study the cutting behavior and cutting performance. Moreover, the subsurface damage of the finished surface was investigated to evaluate the surface quality. The obtained results show that the continuous type of chips was formed in all cutting conditions. When the cutting temperature varied in the range of 40.8–57.9 °C, the cutting force varied in the range of 2.3–25.2 N. The deepest subsurface damage layer was 123.17 μm when the cutting depth and the feed rate were set to 1.0 mm and 0.1 mm/r, respectively. Considering the chip formation, cutting temperature, cutting force, surface quality, and machining efficiency as the main affecting parameters, it is found that the ideal feed rate and cutting depth at the spindle speed of 800 r/min were 0.5 mm/r and 0.8 mm, respectively.