Statistical analysis conducted during the study on the impact of tool-chip contact time on the shear angle in orthogonal machining

Every year millions of dollars are being spent on various types of experimental data to aid in advancing science. Knowing what data looks like before more rigorous analyses is key to understanding what analyses can and should be performed statistically. In this research, data has been recorded to verify if the shear angle is dependent on cutting speeds as per existing metal cutting research. From initial experiments on stainless steel, and ongoing research on Al2024 and Al7075, certain conditions under which the shear angle varied were observed. Based on initial observations, it was deduced that shear angle depends on the tool-chip engagement time and not cutting speed. Initial examinations, distributions of categorical and continuous data have been analysed to look for small frequency of occurrence, amount of missing data, skewness, variability and potential relationships. Not understanding what the data looks like in their basic form can cause incorrect assumptions to be made and an incorrect statistical analysis could be performed later. The first look at a data-set includes plotting the data, determining appropriate descriptive statistics and performing basic inferential statistics. After all data was cleaned up, the statistical analysis begins and the results are discussed in this paper.