Identification of Plunge Milling Parameters to Compare with Conventional Milling

摘要

The operation of axial or plunge milling is one of the most effective methods, there is for removing metal in rough and semi rough machining where only the Z-axis is used. It has been proposed especially for cutting deep cavities or vertical walls of moulds and dies. This new operation of milling greatly contributes to shortening the entire production process, and therefore, saving significant production time. However, it remains confidential and needs additional investigations for controlling and showing its advantages. In this paper, we first introduce and identify the operation of plunge milling. Also, we define the technical data allowing the choice of a tool and the determination of using conditions in this operation. We specify the characteristics and the cutting parameters of this operation and those of the tool. We then evaluate the performance and the effectiveness of this operation by drawing a comparison between plunge and conventional milling operations. This comparison is realised according to different criteria: geometrical configurations and cutting parameters, machining strategies, cutter edge trajectory, power and cutting forces, aspects of productivity (material removal rate), and time of machining. Finally, an example of deep cavity has been achieved for showing the effectiveness of this operation compared to conventional milling. The results of machining show that the values of the volume of metal removed and the power are more important in plunge milling, however the time of machining is less important.