OPTIMIZATION OF CUTTING PARAMETERS ON HIGH-SPEED CNC MILLING OF ALLOY STEEL EN24, USING BOX-BEHNKEN BASED RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

摘要

This paper presents Box-Behnken's response surface method for simultaneous optimization of input process parameters of high speed CNC milling process of alloy steel material with considerably better material removal rate (MRR) while maintaining the surface roughness requirements of the job order type precision components manufacturing SMEs. The experiments designed and carried out on EN 24 alloy steel a structural material representative of steel alloys due to high strength, hardness, and ductility also high work hardening tendencies. Minimization of average surface roughness (R_a) and maximization of material removal rate (MRR) are vital and directly contradicting characters with respect to control parameters and response requirements of high-speed CNC milling process. This research explains optimization of the input parameters of high-speed CNC milling machine using an orthogonal array with design of experiments method covering all possible cases of cutting tools using wet conditions. The effect of cutting parameters on R_a was evaluated and optimal cutting conditions for maximizing the MRR were determined and presented. The results show that MRR is maximized by optimization of input parameters while keeping R_a less than 0.25 Microns.