Influence of microstructure on surface integrity in turning—part II: the influence of a microstructure of the workpiece material on cutting forces

Abstract

Analysis of cutting forces in fine turning is most frequently related to workpiece-material hardness and strength under different machining conditions. Material hardness and strength as well as material machinability, however, can be related to the material microstructure. Consequently, an additional influence exerted by the microstructure was included in the present study to find the relationship between the size of the soft phase described by intercept lengths and the magnitude of the cutting force measured during the fine-turning process. The magnitude of cutting force is usually treated in terms of its static and dynamic components. In our case, both the components are of importance. Because of different types of aluminium–silicon alloys, significant differences occur in the magnitude of the static and dynamic components of the cutting force mainly because of different types of microstructures. The latter can be described by the fraction and quantity of individual microstructure phases. The results obtained are represented by an average magnitude of static and dynamic components of the cutting force in relation to the intercept lengths of the soft phase.