Surface integrity of dry machined titanium alloys

The study is focused on the machined surface integrity of titanium alloy under the dry milling process. Roughness, lay, defects, microhardness and microstructure alterations are investigated. The result of surface roughness shows that the CVD-coated carbide tool fails to produce better Ra value compared to the uncoated tool. Lay is found to be dependent on cutting speed and feed speed directions. Microhardness is altered down to 350 mu m beneath the machined surface. The first 50 pm is the soft subsurface caused by thermal softening in the ageing process. Down to 200 mu m is the hard sub-surface caused by the cyclic internal work hardening and then it gradually decreased to the bulk material hardness. It was concluded that for titanium alloys, dry machining can be carried out with uncoated carbide tools as far as cutting condition is limited to finish and/or semi-finish operations. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.