Investigating the impact of tool inertia on machinability of a β-titanium alloy using tool deflection and acoustic emission

Abstract

Finding sustainable ways of machining exotic materials is gaining more and more importance in the manufacturing industry. Application of advanced measuring instruments for quantifying performance measures is a crucial requirement for making machining processes viable. The presented work aims to ameliorate machining of a high-strength β-titanium alloy using information from measurements of key responses, such as cutting energy consumption, tool deflection, and tool damage. Acoustic emission data and tool’s acceleration data are utilized to work out the magnitudes of energy consumed and deflection undergone by the tool, respectively. The article focuses on quantifying the effects of tool’s inertia, strength of work material, and two cutting parameters on the aforementioned responses. A total of 54 continuous cutting experiments are performed in which a fixed volume of material per experimental run is removed. Tool deflection method helped to determine the significant effects of varying tool inertia, work material strength, and cutting speed on the machining process. Likewise, acoustic emission method highlighted the strong effects of material strength and cutting speed caused on the cutting energy consumption. The effect of feed rate is found to be significant regarding tool wear only. Finally, the tool wear data are tested for correlation against the corresponding data sets of the other two responses. It is found that both tool deflection and cutting energy possess strong uphill relationships with tool wear.