Influence of a cutter's main geometrical parameters on cutting forces in plunge milling of Ti6Al4V

The main objective of the present study is to determine precisely the influence of a plunge milling cutter's geometrical parameters on cutting forces. The plunge milling cutters studied are all indexable-insert cutters. The approach first involves modelling the specific cutting pressures for the three cutting force components. To obtain several types of cutter configurations as simply as possible, the idea is to use three distinct plunge milling cutters plus two types of insert, each having different geometrical characteristics. The insert holder's axial and radial angles can thus be changed. The coefficients of the cutting force predictive models are calibrated based on only eleven tests. Once established, the new cutting force model based on the cutting conditions and the main geometrical parameters characterising a plunge milling cutter allowed the influence of these parameters on cutting forces to be analysed and quantified. The material machined was a Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. A series of 135 tests was conducted enabling the proposed modelling scenarios to be validated. The influences of edge radius, axial rake angle, radial rake angle, entering angle, and nose radius on the tangential, radial, and axial forces have been precisely quantified in the case of plunge milling.