FRACTAL-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SURFACE FINISH OF WORKPIECE AND CHIP FORMATION IN MILLING OPERATION

Abstract

Surface finish is one of the most important issues that is discussed in machining of materials. In fact, reaching the required surface finish is the key scale in analysis of the quality of machined workpiece. Chip formation is an important factor that highly affects the surface finish of machined workpiece. In this research, we analyze the relationship between surface finish and chip formation by fractal analysis of their surfaces. Since both patterns have complex structures, we calculate their fractal dimension in case of different experiments in which machining parameters change. The result of analysis indicates that the variations of fractal dimension of machined surface show a reverse pattern compared to the fractal dimension of chip surface in case of variations of depth of cut and feed rate. However, in case of variations of spindle speed, the variations of fractal dimension of machined surface show a similar pattern with the fractal dimension of chip surface. Therefore, it can be said that the complexity of machined surface is linked to the complexity of chip surface. The method of analysis used in this research can be further applied to other manufacturing operations.