Cost Effective Machining of Ti-6Al-4V Using State-of-the-Art Machining Centers

摘要

Titanium alloys have been widely used in the aerospace, biomedical and automotive industries because of their unique characteristics, such as superior strength to weight ratio and corrosion resistance. However, manufacturers have had problems in machining them due to their poor machinability. Therefore the optimum selection of cutting conditions is very important to achieve the cost effective machining of titanium alloys. In this paper, the tool life experimental equation is first obtained and then the production cost calculation model is constructed for roughing operations of Ti-6Al-4V. Based on this calculation model, the production cost under several situations is discussed. As a result, the cycle time reduction for the machine operation and labor costs is very important to reduce the production cost.