Abstract
Ti-6Al-4V, the most commonly used alloy of titanium, possesses excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, which is the prime reason for the continual rise in its industrial demand worldwide. The extraordinary mechanical properties of the alloy are viewed as a hindrance when it comes to its shaping processes, and the process of milling is no exception to it. The generation of intense heat flux around the cutting zones is an established reason of poor machinability of the alloy and unacceptably low sustainability of its machining. The work presented in this paper attempts to enhance sustainability of milling Ti-6Al-4V by investigating the effects of milling orientation, cutter’s helix angle, cutting speed, and the type of cryogenic coolant and lubricant on the sustainability measures, such as tool damage, cutting energy consumption, process cost, milling forces, and work surface roughness. It was found that micro-lubrication is more effective than the two commonly used cryogenic coolants (carbon dioxide snow and liquid nitrogen) in reducing tool wear, work surface roughness, process cost, and energy consumption. Furthermore, down-milling enormously outperformed up-milling with respect to tool wear, work surface quality, and process cost. Likewise, the high levels of cutter’s helix angle and cutting speed also proved to be beneficial for milling sustainability.
Highlights
Titanium alloys gained an unprecedented rise in their demand from various engineering sectors due to their excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance
The analysis revealed occurrence of progressive mechanical wear and adhesion of work material as the microscopic visual analysis revealed occurrence of progressive mechanical wear and adhesion of major modes of tool damage, while chipping of cutting edge was observed in a few tools
Tooling cost is governed by tool wear (VB); a larger value the most contributors
Summary
Titanium alloys gained an unprecedented rise in their demand from various engineering sectors due to their excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The same properties considered as excellent during the “use” phase are termed as unfavorable during the “manufacturing” phase of their life cycle. With regard to the machining domain, the same unfavorable properties are responsible for their low machinability, which render the cutting process unsustainable. A titanium work is, machined with formation of an intense heat flux around the cutting edge and consumption of exceedingly high cutting energy, leading to acceleration of the temperature-dependent modes of tool wear [2]. The high tool wear rates, resulting in frequent changes of cutting tools or edges, leave the machining process highly unsustainable, economically as well as Metals 2020, 10, 258; doi:10.3390/met10020258 www.mdpi.com/journal/metals
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