Face milling and drilling of an aluminum based Sic reinforced metal matrix composite (MMC) alloy with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools

摘要

Metal Matrix Composite(MMCs) are a new class of materials intended for high performance applications. The paper outline the results of face milling and drilling tests performed on an aluminum 2618 alloy reinforced with 15 vol% silicon carbide(SiC) particulate.Sintered tungsten carbide and polycrystalline diamond(PCD) cutting tools were used. Based on a tool life criterion PCD products proved, in general, to be the most effective and the only tool material capable of providing a realistic operating performance. For instance, when using tungsten carbide tools in face milling only 120 m(cutting length) could be made before flank wear reached 0.4 mm. PCD tools cut 3600 m with only 0.05 mm of flank wear. In these operations, changes in cutting speed(less than 5 m/s) did not significantly effect flank wear rate. However, the grain size of PCD tools was a key factor to diminish the tool wear. A PCD tool with 50μ m grain size exhibited good wear resistance compare with the other these types of tools with differentgrain size.In drilling operations, Pa) tipped drills cut 300 holes with only 0.08 mm of lip flank wear, while only 48 holes could be made before flank wear reached 0.6 mm when using tungsten carbide drills. Changing in spindle speed did not considerable effect forwear rate. In drilling feed rate proved to be the key parameter.