High Speed Face Milling of a Aluminium Silicon Alloy Casting

High speed machining of aluminium silicon alloy castings has gained significant interest from automotive industry involved in the development of the new generation of lightweight vehicles. This paper investigates the influence of workpiece microstructure, namely the secondary dendritic arm spacing (SDAS), tool material and geometry on tool wear mechanisms, cutting forces and surface integrity when face milling at cutting speeds of 5,000 m min−1. It was found that the SDAS is the parameter with the main influence on tool wear rate; higher SDAS values require polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tooling due to the lower wear rates when compared with carbide tools. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was employed to study the influence of tool wear on temperature and shear stress distribution in the workpiece material.