The effects of cutting parameters on surface roughness, tool wear and cutting temperature in the milling of industrial gray and spheroidal graphite cast iron

In addition to their properties such as hardness, wear resistance, machinability, corrosion resistance and strength, cast irons are also easily manufacturable and economical. For this reason, they are prevalently used engineering materials. The machinability of cast irons is dependent on the type of cast and its microstructure. This study investigated the effects of cutting parameters on surface roughness, tool wear and cutting temperature in GG25 (gray cast iron) and GGG60 (spheroidal graphite cast iron). Experimental samples that were cast specifically for these materials were used. For GG25, cutting bits with three different coatings (TiALN, TiN-TiCN-AL2O3andALTiNcoatings), three different cutting speeds (150, 200 and 250 m/min), three different feed rates (0.10, 0.25 and 0.35 mm/tooth) and three different depths of cut (0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm) were used. For GGG60, cutting bits with three different coatings (TiALN, TiN-TiCN-AL2O3andALTiN coatings), three different cutting speeds (175, 225 and 300 m/min), three different feed rates (0.10, 0.20 and 0.30 mm/tooth) and three different depths of cut (0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm) were used. The Taguchi method was utilized for experimental design and optimization. For both materials, the Taguchi L27 (34) orthogonal array was used in the experimental design. After each experiment, two roughness measurements were made on the material's surface, and the average of these two measurements was used for the analysis for each material. The experimental results were optimized using the Taguchi method, and three confirmation experiments were conducted for each result that was obtained using the optimized parameters. The mean values of the results of the confirmation experiments and the calculated Taguchi prediction values were compared. The error terms that were found as a result of this comparison were very small, and the results revealed that the Taguchi method was successfully implemented in this study. Moreover, the experimental results for both materials were analyzed using analysis of variance, two-dimensional plots and three-dimensional plots, and the effects of the cutting parameters on the experimental results were evaluated.