Optimization of the Manufacturing Strategy, Machining Conditions, and Finishing of a Radial Impeller

Abstract

Impellers are the most crucial components of pumps, as they directly determine the velocity profile of the fluid flowing through the pump and its efficiency. Given that the impellers have a complex geometry, they pose an important challenge to the manufacturer in order to construct them with the best possible dimensional accuracy and surface quality, and also achieve short machining times. In the present paper, the machining operations for the manufacture of a radial impeller were designed and implemented for the case of a single-entry semi-closed radial flow impeller. At first, the best milling strategies, optimum cutting conditions, and appropriate cutting tools were selected for each of the three machining phases, namely, roughing, semi-finishing, and finishing. Then, an experimental investigation was conducted, especially for the optimum process conditions during finishing of impeller blades, using Taguchi L16 orthogonal array. After the analysis of surface roughness was conducted for the 16 experiments, it was found that the most important parameters were spindle speed and feed. Furthermore, the optimum settings were determined as the maximum spindle speed and the lowest feed per tooth value and a regression model correlating process parameters with surface roughness was established with a high degree of accuracy.