An Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Cutting Forces in Dry Milling Machining Process

The aim in this thesis is the investigation of the cutting forces during a dry milling machining process. An experimental design was developed and the cutting forces were measured based on the cutting input parameters. The cutting forces? signatures are in good agreement with the metal cutting mechanics where effects of the tool run out and vibrations are observed.

A parametric study has been conducted and the results show that the magnitude of the cutting forces at a constant depth of cut increases with a high feed rate and a low spindle speed. These results suggest that the cutting forces depend on the chip load at a constant depth of cut. Also, the increase of the depth of cut generates higher force magnitude due to the volume of material removed.

A three-dimensional Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was conducted using commercial FEA software ABAQUS to predict the cutting forces in a dry milling cutting process. Different cutting input parameters were chosen to predict the cutting forces. The findings show that the predicted cutting forces depend also on the chip load. Later, a close fit has been found from the comparison of the measured and predicted cutting forces. Thus, the FEA model is valid and accurate.

The surface roughness (Ra) was also studied based on different cutting input parameters and CNC machine quality. The results from the investigation show that the surface roughness depends on the chip load and the machine condition. This leads to conclude that the surface roughness can be predicted based on the cutting forces? signatures.