Approaches to enhance surface integrity in turning of aluminium matrix composites

Aluminium matrix composites are innovative lightweight construction materials, which usually consist of a relatively soft and ductile matrix and a hard ceramic reinforcing component. The high hardness of the reinforcing component results in extensively increased cutting tool wear by abrasion as well as defects of the machined surface in the form of voids and scaling. In this study, turning tests were conducted on Al2O3 particle-reinforced aluminium to evaluate the effect of tool edge geometry on cutting performance and surface integrity. These investigations have shown a significant reduction of the roughness and surface defects using tools with appropriate rake geometries.