Experimental study of machinability in mill-grinding of SiCp/Al composites

An attempt was made to investigate the machinability of SiCp/Al composites based on the experimental study using mill-grinding processing method. The experiments were carried out on a high-speed CNC machining center using integrated abrasive cutting tool. The effects of combined machining parameters, e g, cutting speed (v_s), feed rate (v_f), and depth of cut (a_p), with the same change of material removal rate (MRR) on the mill-grinding force and surface roughness (Ra) were investigated. The formation mechanism of typical machined surface defects was analyzed by SEM. The experimental results reveal that with the same change of material removal rate, lower mill-grinding force values can be gained by increasing depth of cut and feed rate simultaneously at higher cutting speed. With the same change of MRR value, lower surface roughness values can be gained by increasing the feed rate at higher cutting speed, rather than just increasing the depth of cut, or increasing the feed rate and depth of cut simultaneously. The machined surface of SiCp/Al composites reveals typical defects which can influence surface integrity.