Aluminum alloy parts milling high speed cnc machining skills
High-speed milling is different from conventional milling. This is a more productive and innovative way to manufacture small batch parts CNC machining and prototype CNC machining. The growing metal industry requires the rapid production of parts. Every month, the demand for custom parts or rapid prototyping is on the rise. More and more customers want to fulfill their orders faster. They also wanted the components to have better accuracy than before.
Aluminum alloys happen to be one of the most versatile alloys in modern production. It is lightweight, durable, strong, and corrosion-resistant. Frankly, there is nothing wrong with judging that it is the best material for production. For this reason, new milling technologies have been developed to unleash their full potential.
High-speed milling is such a modern CNC aluminum alloy CNC machining method. It differs from conventional milling mainly in terms of speed. High-speed milling is usually faster. This allows the feed to increase the cutting feed rate. In addition, it has other advantages over traditional milling.
Aluminum alloy parts milling cnc machining process
The cutting speed of high-speed milling can even be increased by up to 2 times when dealing with softer aluminum alloys. In the field of technology, the machining feed determines the productivity of the entire milling process. This makes high-speed milling more efficient than traditional milling.
The CNC machinability of the aluminum alloy allows us to increase the spindle speed. They can even reach 1800rpm or more. This material removal rate makes it profitable when dealing with automotive and aerospace parts. First of all, a large amount of material needs to be removed from a car prototype. We try to achieve this with as few milling settings as possible. In the second case, it involves several sections that are long and large with deep pockets. In addition, they need to be lightweight. Therefore, we process them into a set of crossed ribs. Aluminum alloys make up 80% of aircraft and rocket fuselages.
Cut temperature aluminum alloy milling parts CNC machining
Studies have shown that the temperature of the cut changes with increasing speed. In the beginning, as the speed increases, so does the temperature. However, further, the temperature dropped sharply. This gets to the point of inconsequentiality. Increasing the cutting speed will eventually reduce the temperature by only a small amount. This variation is ideal for high-speed milling.
For example, when milling at a speed of 300-500 m/min, the temperature may reach 600 to 800 degrees. However, when we increase the speed to 1200, the temperature decreases by 200 degrees. Then at a speed of 1800m/min, it finally reaches 150 degrees. From this point of view, it makes no sense to cut faster after that.
From the right point of view, it's only 150-200 degrees. The material properties of this area do not change due to local heat treatment. The metal particles do not increase and do not require a lot of cooling. This is a significant advantage.
Extended tool life
This may seem strange due to the higher speeds involved. Therefore, it is generally accepted that tool wear must be higher. However, when we compare it to the amount of material cut by conventional milling, the difference is noticeable. The clear winner when it comes to tool life for high-speed milling.
You may be wondering what is the reason for the extended tool life? First of all, the cutting temperature is significantly reduced. This translates into higher tool material strength. In addition, the chip width is smaller when milling at high speeds. This is because the cutter turns faster and can still cut thinner chips despite the increased feed.
In addition, one of the main problems with milling aluminum alloy is that it is soft. As a result, it ends up sticking to the cutting edge of the tool during machining. This reduces tool sharpness and increases cutting forces. This results in reduced tool life.
Precision of CNC machining milling of aluminum alloy parts
You might assume that a higher feed would result in a lower aluminum surface finish. This is because the cutting edge of the tool moves farther and the tool can turn and cut it. It often results in wider chips, increased cutting forces, and a worse surface finish. However, despite the higher feeds at high-speed milling, its speed is higher. This means that the chips are actually thinner compared to conventional milling. In addition, since we use less cutting force, the vibration is also low. These features all contribute to improved accuracy.
Coolant use
There are some high-speed milling techniques that allow us to do without coolant at all. Processing at 200 degrees Celsius rarely requires the use of coolant. Still, extremely precise operation requires coolant. This is to improve the quality of the parts. Luckily, it usually requires a low amount of coolant because we only need a layer of film