The objective of the present research is to investigate the relationship among tool wear, surface topography, and surface roughness when high-speed end milling Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and also to define an optimal flank wear criterion for the cutting tool to integrate tool life and the surface roughness requirements of the finish milling process. An annealed Ti-6Al-4V alloy was selected as the workpiece material, undergoing end milling with uncoated carbide inserts. The flank wear of the insert was observed and measured with the toolmaker's microscope. To examine machined surfaces, 3D surface topography was provided by the white light interferometer, and the arithmetical mean roughness (Ra) was calculated with the WYKO Vision32 software. The flank wear increases with cutting time, and the maximal flank wear is set as the flank wear criterion. As the cutting process progresses, tool wear is the predominant factor affecting the variation of surface roughness. According to the plots for the tool wear propagation and surface roughness variation, an optimal flank wear criterion can be defined which integrates the tool life and the surface roughness requirements for the finish milling process.
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