Optimizing the Cutting Parameters for Better Surface Quality in 2.5D Cutting Utilizing Titanium Coated Carbide Ball End Mill

The 2.5D cutting operations are intended for creating NC programs for components with pockets, lugs, flat sections etc, for which, it is too time consuming to produce a 3D volume model of the component. A 2.5D machining processes can perform the cutting operation only in two of the three axes at a time, the movement of the cutter on the main planes before moves to the next depth produced a terrace-like approximation of the required shape. However adopting the right cutting parameters could be an ideal solution to improve the product quality. This study focused on optimizing the cutting parameters for higher surface quality in 2.5D cutting utilizing titanium coated carbide ball end mill. These parameters include; machined surface inclined angle, axial depth of cut, spindle speed and feed rate. Taguchi optimization method is the most effective method to optimize the cutting parameters, in which the most significant response variables could be identified. The standard orthogonal array of L-9 (3(4)) is used, while the signal to noise (S/N), target performance measurement (TPM) response analysis and analysis of variance (Pareto ANOVA) methods are carried out to determine which parameters are statistically significant. Finally confirmation tests are carried out to investigate the optimization improvements.