Investigations on high speed drilling of ti 6al 4v alloy

Abstract

The fascinating properties of titanium alloy makes it fit for large extent of applications in different fields of manufacturing industries. Its extraordinary properties such as high specific strength, exceptional corrosion resistance and its capability to withstand the strength at elevated temperatures make it as the excellent material for aerospace application. It also has its application on biomedical fields and commercial industry usage. Owing to the higher strength and reduced thermal conductivity, machining of this material was extremely tough as it generates large cutting forces and higher tool temperatures resulting in shorter tool life. As current industrial scenario demands increased productivity, there is a desperate need for improving the machinability of these alloys. Hence this work aims in developing certain approaches for uplifting the machinability of these alloys particularly in drilling, which contributes for 30-40% of the entire process done on these materials. Drilling plays an essential role in aerospace components manufacturing. In particular, Grade 5 Titanium alloy is used for most of the applications. From the literature survey, it is found that most of the attempts on improving the machinability of Ti alloys was done on low and medium cutting conditions, and hence this study starts with selection of process parameters belonging to higher levels to improve the machinability. The selected machining parameters are Cutting Speed (Vc), Feed (f) and Depth of Cut (DOC). Three different levels of cutting speed and feed with constant depth of cut were considered for the experimentation. newline