Modeling and Predicting the Machined Surface Roughness and Milling Power in Scot's Pine Helical Milling Process

Helical milling with the advantages of stable machining process, a well-machined surface quality, etc., is an interest of researchers and producers. Machined surface roughness (arithmetic mean deviation (Ra) and maximum height of the assessed profile (Rz)) and milling power consumption as two main machining characteristic parameters were studied and chosen as response factors to evaluate the machinability of Scots pine helical milling. Input variables included helical angle of milling cutter, rotation speed of main shaft, and depth of milling. Response surface methodology was applied for the design of experiments, data processing and analysis, and optimization of the processing parameters. The results showed that Ra and Rz decreased with an increase in helical angle and rotation speed of main shaft, though increased with an increase in depth of milling. Milling power increased when the helical angle and depth of milling increased and showed a slight downward trend as the rotational speed increased. The quadratic models were applied to predict the values of Ra, Rz, and milling power due to the high values of R-2 of 0.9895, 0.9905, and 0.9885, respectively. The plot of predicted and actual values also indicated that the created models had good predictability. The optimized combination of helical angle, rotation speed, and depth of milling are 64 degrees, 7500 r/min, and 0.5 mm, respectively. The effects of input variables and the quantitative relation between input variables and response variables were revealed clearly. These achievements will be useful for guiding the selection of helical milling parameters to achieve the purposes of improving processed surface quality and saving the processing power consumption.

Automated summary

Helical milling of Scots pine was studied to evaluate machinability based on surface roughness and milling power consumption. The results showed that surface roughness decreased with an increase in helical angle and rotation speed, while increased with an increase in milling depth. However, milling power consumption increased with an increase in helical angle and milling depth, but showed a slight downward trend with an increase in rotation speed. The optimized combination of helical angle, rotation speed, and milling depth were determined to improve surface quality and save power consumption.