Analysis of Burr Formation in Low Speed Micro-milling of Titanium Alloy (Ti-6Al-4V)

Abstract

The use of titanium based alloys in aerospace and biomedical applications make them an attractive choice for research in micro-machining. In this research, low speed micro-milling is used to analyze machinability of Ti-6Al-4V alloy as low speed machining setup is not expensive and it can be carried out on conventional machine tools already available at most machining setups. Parameters like feed per tooth, cutting speed and depth of cut are selected as machining variables and their effect on burr formation is analyzed through statistical technique analysis of variance to determine key process variables. Results show that feed per tooth is the most dominant factor in burr formation (81 % contribution ratio). The effect of depth of cut was found to be negligible. It was also observed that micro-milling at optimum process parameters showed minimum burr formation. In terms of burr formation, as compared to high speed machining setup, better results were achieved at low speed machining setup by varying machining parameters.