Quality Characteristics of Cutting Surfaces in the Milling of the Titanium Alloy Ti10V2Fe3Al

As titanium alloys have unique mechanical properties, the b-titanium alloy Ti10V2Fe3Al (Ti-1023) is widely used by the aerospace industry, among other things, when producing critical components such as parts of the fuselage and the wings as well as various rotating components due to its extremely high ratio of strength to density, its great resistance to fatigue, its excellent resistance to corrosion and fracture toughness. Within the group of titanium materials, the alloys of the b-phase are among the materials which are most difficult to machine. In particular, this concerns milling processes widely used in the production of various complicated components. In order to be able to successfully apply the machining process of the titanium alloy Ti-1023, optimum cutting parameters of the tool have to be used, guaranteeing a required machining quality. This paper presents the results of experimental tests into the formation of quality characteristics such as roughness and microhardness as well as residual stresses and their simulation depending on cutting parameters such as cutting speed, feed and radial depth of cut. To analyse more closely how the cutting parameters affect the quality characteristics in milling, the individual dependences of the effects were described in exponential equations. The exponents for the exponential equations were established according to the Gaussian elimination method. The experimental results obtained and the developed FEM cutting models serve as a basis for further optimising the machining processes of titanium alloys.