Study on the influence of heat treatment process on machinability behaviour of aluminium alloy 6060

Abstract

In this work, the impact of full annealing heat treatment process on the machinability behaviour of Aluminium alloy 6060 has been studied elaborately. The samples were kept at 300 degree celsius (6 h) and subsequent cooling process was done at room temperature. Three levels in three input parameters (Spindle speed 300, 600, 900 rpm, Feed rate 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 mm/rev and Depth of Cut 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 mm) and two output parameters (Material Removal Rate and Surface Roughness) were selected for this study. 17 experimental runs were used in this study for optimization process. The experiments were conducted at CNC lathe using HSS tool and the results were compared between the heat treated and non - heat treated samples. The heat treated samples showed 34.67% better MRR and 11% reduction in surface roughness than non - heat treated samples. The optimal results in heat treated workpiece was achieved at 893 rpm spindle speed, 0.15 mm/rev feed rate, 1.5 mm depth of cut. The confirmatory test was conducted and the results obtained shows negligible error percentage which further extends the scope of this study in real applications like railings, motor housings, and heat sinks.