Experimental research of milling force and surface quality for TC4 titanium alloy of micro-milling

Due to its good mechanical and chemical property, titanium alloy is widely used in high-tech industries such as aerospace, biomedical engineering, etc. Utilizing micro-milling to fabricate titanium alloy parts, good surface geometric appearance can be obtained. The dynamic behaviors of milling force and surface quality in micro-milling process of titanium alloy should be investigated. Considering the effect of tool runout, the paper established a mathematical model to calculate the uncut thickness and to describe the dynamic behavior of micro-milling force including the combined influences of tool runout, minimum uncut thickness, and edge plowing. The correctness and applicability of the presented model was also verified from the perspective of micro-milling force experiment and finite element analysis. Meanwhile, experimental results indicated that the surface quality of machined surface is prone to the influence of burrs and residual chips. In the micro-milling process for titanium alloy, a smaller feed per tooth and tool material that is not easy to stick to titanium alloy are preferred, while cooling is necessary if a machined surface with better surface quality is looked forward to.