OPTIMIZATION OF CNC MILLING PARAMETERS THROUGH THE TAGUCHI AND RSM METHODS FOR SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF UHMWPE ACETABULAR CUP

CNC milling is a flexible technology for machining UHMWPE with low machinability. This study was undertaken for modeling of the experimental data with CNC milling parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, and step over) against the response of surface roughness of UHMWPE acetabular cup. Here the significant machining parameters on the surface roughness were first analysed by ANOVA, while the optimized parameters for yielding the minimum surface roughness were determined with the Taguchi method and the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). In the milling of UHMWPE acetabular cup, the method was confirmed valid for optimizing the cutting parameters with the minimal surface roughness. Accordingly, the minimum surface roughness determined by the Taguchi method could correspond to the optimum levels of spindle speed of 6500 rpm, the feed rate of 1500 mm/rev and step over about 0.1 mm. The Taguchi and RSM based models yielded the consistent results, hereby justifying their suitability. In conclusion, the examination by statistical indicators confirmed the acceptability of these examples