Experimental Analysis of Micromilling Cutting Forces on Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Abstract

Technological development has required the fabrication of miniaturized components in different industry areas, such as electronics, aerospace, automotive, medical and biotechnology. Micromilling aims to produce micro parts with new applications, high performance and quality, requiring production conditions favorable for surface integrity of the workpiece and the useful life of the tool. Super duplex UNS S 32750 stainless steel is used in chemical process pressure vessels, piping and heat exchangers, offshore oil production/technology, oil and gas industry equipment and it is known to have two phases with relevant differences concerning mechanical properties. There are not many studies on micromachining of superduplex components. This article presents an experimental study of micromilling UNS S 32750 workpiece. The design of experiments (DOE) uses two levels of feed per tooth and cutting velocity to analyze the resultant cutting forces. The increase of feed per tooth decreased the specific cutting pressure and higher cutting speeds caused lower specific cutting pressures. For the lower feed per tooth, stronger variation of the force peaks was noted, that could indicate the passage of each tooth in different phases.