High performance machining of selected titanium alloys for aerospace applications

During the last decades of the twentieth century substantial resources were invested in the development of projects for the aerospace sector. The efforts in research and development initiatives were successful, but the related manufacturing success remained elusive. Since then the focus of industrial development in the aerospace domain has shifted towards component manufacture for the major aerospace supply chains of the developed world. This paper discusses current results of a large collaborative project aiming at systematic research towards improved and more efficient utilisation of the High Speed Cutting (HSC), and particularly the High Performance Machining (HPM) technologies especially related to the machining of some of the key materials in the aerospace industry such as selected titanium alloys. In this way the targeted cost optimisation and lead time shortening could be modeled and practically achieved. In the study some basic phenomena such as heat generation, cutting forces and chip flow, performance conditions, i.e. flushing strategies, cutting tool materials, as well as performance criteria such as tool life and tool geometry, during milling of titanium alloys were investigated. The generic results are compared with modeling and simulation runs and implemented in 4 and 5 axis milling of a demonstrator, a typical aerospace part, applying different machining strategies.