Experiment research on cavitation in high-speed milling with internal cooling

Abstract

As the demand for difficult-to-cut materials (such as titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys, and stainless steels) continues to increase, internally cooled cutting is receiving increasing attention and research due to lowering the temperature of the cutting zone and improving the quality of the machined surface. With the increase of spindle speed, cavitation problem that plagues the development of high-speed fluid machinery may also cause cavitation damage to internally cooled cutting tools. This paper aims to study cavitation in the process of high-speed milling with internal cooling. A cavitation experiment platform for high-speed milling with internal cooling was established. A cavitation experiment was performed on the platform during high-speed milling with internal cooling. In order to facilitate the observation of cavitation during high-speed milling with internal cooling, Al 6063 and C45 were used as the materials of the workpiece and the milling tool, respectively. The experimental results reveal that after the experiment, fish scale cavity pits and cavitation pinholes were formed on the flank face and some machined surfaces of the workpiece. At the same time, the mechanism of cavitation damage was also preliminarily analyzed. This study is beneficial for exploring the cavitation mechanism in future high-speed internally cooled cutting and guiding the rational use of internally cooled cutting.