Investigation of Machining Parameters in Thin-Walled Plate Milling Using a Fixture with Cylindrical Support Heads

Abstract

Construction, processing, biomedical instruments, electronics, automobiles, and aerospace widely use thin-wall parts. Mostly, these thinwalled parts are machined using either a peripheral milling machine or an end milling machine with the help of fixtures. In this study, three different material thin-walled parts (i.e., Inconel 718, AISI 316L, and Al 6061) are machined in end milling using a newly designed fixture with cylindrical heads, and the surface roughness and deformation with different machining parameters are compared. The optimum values of the machining parameters feed, speed, and depth of cut have been found to improve the surface roughness of thin-walled plates by arresting the deformation using the proposed fixture. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results show that the speed is the most influential parameter in the case of displacement for AISI 716L and Al 6061, feed is the most influential parameter in the case of surface roughness for Inconel 718 and AISI 716L, and speed is the most influential parameter in the case of displacement and surface roughness for Al 6061. The use of fixtures provides a significant reduction in the deformation and surface roughness during the machining in end milling machine.