Study of surface roughness and burr formation after milling of carbon fiber/titanium stacks

Abstract

This work aims to study the influence of cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate, cutting depth and tool cutting edge angle) regarding surface roughness and burr formation during the milling of a mixed structure comprised of titanium and carbon fiber (stack). The parameters were varied from maximum to minimum, just as the tool cutting edge angle of the insert, through a full factorial design with 32 trials. The analyses were performed by measuring the surface roughness and burr size along with metallographic analyses through optic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the surface roughness was higher for carbon fiber and burr size was higher for titanium. There were a number of tests with delamination of the carbon fiber, and the best cutting parameters to minimize surface roughness and burr formation were tool cutting edge angle of 45º, a feed rate of 0.028 mm/tooth, cutting depth equal to 0.26 mm and cutting speed equal to 150 m/min.