Surface topography analysis in high speed finish milling inclined hardened steel

The surface texture of a milled surface is an inherently important process response in finish milling. It is one of the most commonly used criteria to determine the machinability of a particular workpiece material. However, literature survey on the study of the surface topography analysis relating to the cutter path orientations when high speed finish inclined milling is scant. Previous works were either involved in conventional milling of easy-to-cut workpiece materials or machining at different workpiece inclination angles. Furthermore, none of the previous work has detailed the true surface topography of the machined surface with regards to the cutter condition. Instead, the works provided quantitative values in terms of the Ra value. This article is concerned with evaluating cutter path orientations on an inclined workpiece angle of 75degrees to simulate finish milling of free form moulds and dies. Surface topography effects are assessed with regards to different cutter path orientations on its surface. The aims of this study are to provide an in-depth understanding on the surface texture produced by various cutter path orientations when high speed finish inclined milling hardened steel at a workpiece inclination angle of 75degrees using surface topography analysis and determine the best cutter path orientation with respect to the best surface texture achieved. 3D topography maps together with 2D surface profiles are used to assess the experimental results. The conclusion is that milling in a single direction vertical upward orientation gave the best workpiece surface texture. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.