The use of cutting temperature to evaluate the machinability of titanium alloys

This study investigated the machinability of titanium, two commercial titanium alloys (Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-7Nb) and free-cutting brass using the cutting temperature. The cutting temperature was estimated by measuring the thermal electromotive force of the tool-workpiece thermocouple during cutting. The thermoelectric power of each metal relative to the tool had previously been determined. The metals were slotted using a milling machine and carbide square end mills under four cutting conditions. The cutting temperatures of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-7Nb were significantly higher than that of the titanium, while that of the free-cutting brass was lower. This result coincided with the relationship of the magnitude of the cutting forces measured in a previous study. For each metal, the cutting temperature became higher when the depth of cut or the cutting speed and feed increased. The increase in the cutting speed and feed was more influential on the value than the increase in the depth of cut when two cutting conditions with the same removal rates were compared. The results demonstrated that cutting temperature measurement can be utilized to develop a new material for dental CAD/CAM applications and to optimize the cutting conditions. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.