Cutting Forces in Dry Machining of Aluminum Alloy 5083 with Carbide Tools

Abstract

In the machining of Aluminum alloys used in lightweight structural application in automotive, shipbuilding and aerospace industries the consumption of cooling lubricant during the machining operations is very important. Among these, non-heat treatable aluminum alloy 5083 because of its reasonable strength, better corrosion resistance, weldability and ability to take surface finishes is better than the others. The associated costs of coolant acquisition, use, disposal and washing the machined components are significant, up to four times the cost of consumable tooling used in the cutting operations. To reduce the costs of production and to make the processes environmentally safe, the goal of the aeronautical manufacturers is to move toward dry cutting by eliminating or minimizing cutting fluids. This goal can be achieved by using coated carbide tools at high cutting speeds. To achieve this goal, different cutting conditions were tested in dry conditions. The elementary orthogonal cutting process was chosen, the cutting and feed cutting forces components were measured by using Kistler force dynamometer.