Investigation of Surface Roughness and Tool Wear in End Milling of Al7075-SiC Co-continuous Composite

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology to arrive at the optimal end milling parameters of a Al7075-SiC co-continuous ceramic composite is presented. The composite was manufactured by gravity infiltration and end milling was performed. The effect of machining parameters namely, cutting speed, feed and depth of cut on multi-responses of surface roughness and tool wear were evaluated. A Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was formulated and the significant factors were ascertained using ANOVA. The optimal milling parameters were then identified using the grey relational grade as a performance measure. Tests have shown that, by applying this technique, an improvement in the response characteristics of surface roughness and tool wear has been achieved.