The comparative study on cutting performance of different-structure milling cutters in machining CFRP

Abstract

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is typically hard to process, because it is easy for it to generate processing damage such as burrs, tears, delamination, and so on in the machining process. Consequently, this restricts its wide spread application. This paper conducted a comparative experiment on the cutting performance of the two different-structure milling cutters, with a helical staggered edge and a rhombic edge, in milling carbon fiber composites; analyzed the wear morphologies of the two cutting tools; and thus acquired the effect of the tool structure on the machined surface quality and cutting force. The results indicated that in the whole cutting, the rhombic milling cutter with a segmented cutting edge showed better wear resistance and a more stable machined surface quality. It was not until a large area of coating shedding occurred, along with chip clogging, that the surface quality decreased significantly. At the stage of coating wear, the helical staggered milling cutter with an alternately arranged continuous cutting edge showed better machined surface quality, but when the coating fell off, its machined surface quality began to reveal damage such as groove, tear, and fiber pullout. Meanwhile, burrs occurred at the edge and the cutting force obviously increased. By contrast, for the rhombic milling cutter, both the surface roughness and cutting force increased relatively slowly.