Surface morphology improvement and residual stress distribution of SiCp/Al composites using high-power fiber laser-CNC milling cooperative machining strategy

Abstract

This work proposes a novel high-power fiber laser-CNC milling cooperative strategy for cutting SiCp/Al composites, which aims to machine MMCs with high efficiency and limited damage, and achieve compressive residual stress distribution within machined surface layer in order to subsequently improve service performance of composite components. Experimental results shows that the cooperative machining strategy has a sufficient improvement in machining efficiency with limited surface defects compared to conventional methods. Completely removal of laser cutting induced surface defects, including striations, combustion and cataphracted dross, was achieved under high speed milling with small cutting depth down to 0.2 mm. Additionally, it was found that the roughness of final machined surface was impacted by the parameters of both laser cutting and milling process. The surface roughness decreased by 35 % with the laser power increased from 4.0 kW to 4.5 kW, while decreased by 60 % when milling speed decreased from 180 m/min to 90 m/min. Compressive residual stress was prevalent within the surface layer during fiber laser-CNC milling cooperative machining process. The experimental findings in this work verified the feasibility and advantages of the cooperative machining strategy for processing difficult-to-cut metal matrix composites.