Cutting force model and damage formation mechanism in milling of 70wt%Si/Al composite

High-mass fraction silicon aluminium composite(Si/Al composite) has unique properties of high specific strength, low thermal expansion coefficient, excellent wear resistance and weldability. It has attracted many applications in terms of radar communication, aerospace and automobile industry. However, rapid tool wear resulted from high cutting force and hard abrasion, and damaged machined surfaces are the main problem in machining Si/Al composite. This work aims to reveal the mechanisms of milling-induced damages of 70wt% Si/Al composites. A cutting force analytical model considering the characteristics of both the primary silicon particles and the cutting-edge radius was established. Milling experiments were conducted to verify the validity of the model. The results show that the analytical model exhibits a good consistency with the experimental results, and the error is about 10%. The cutting-edge radius has significant effects on the cutting force, surface roughness and damage formation. With the increase in the cutting-edge radius, both the cutting force and the surface roughness decrease firstly and then increase. When the cutting-edge radius is 27 μm, the surface roughness(Sa) reaches the minimum of 2.3 μm.Milling-induced surface damages mainly contain cracks, pits, scratches, matrix coating and burrs.The damage formation is dominated by the failure mode of primary silicon particles, which includes compressive breakage, intragranular fracture, particle pull-out, and interface debonding. In addition, the high ductility of aluminium matrix leads to matrix coating. This work provides guidance for tool selection and damage inhibition in high-efficiency and high-precision machining of high mass fraction Si/Al composites.

Machining process model based on virtual reality environment

Virtual manufacturing is fast becoming an affordable technology with wide-ranging applications in modern manufacturing. Its advantages over existing technology are primarily that users can visualize, feel involvement and interact with virtual representations of real world activities in real time. In this paper, a virtual cutting system is built which can simulate turning process, estimate tool wear and cutting force using artificial neural network etc. Using the simulated machining environment in virtual reality (VR), the user can practise and preview the operations for possible problems that might occur during implementation. This approach enables designers to evaluate and design feasible machining processes in a consistent manner as early as possible during the development process.