Influence of cutting parameters on cycle time, surface roughness, dimensional error and cutting forces in milling operations on aluminium 6082 sculptured surface geometry

Milling and especially high-speed milling (HSM) operations are widely used in manufacturing to obtain the final shapes of mechanical parts. Examples of this metal cutting process can be found in the production of moulds and dies, mainly in automotive, aerospace or aeronautical industries, where large amounts of material are removed from large metal structures in procedures that require high productivity and accuracy. Many factors and parameters have influences on the quality of manufactured parts, productivity and economics of manufacturing process. Not a lot of knowledge is available, making process planning enormously difficult and usually it is a task that fully depends on the operator expertise. The aim of this work is to experimentally analyse the influence of feed rate and cutting tool diameter on the cycle time, the cutting forces, the surface roughness and the dimensional accuracy of the part. The results show that the feed rate and the tool diameter have considerable effects over the productivity, the part quality and the requests of the metal removal process. Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.