Investigation Of End Mills Made Of A Rock Composite Material For Machining Aluminum

Machining processes are used in almost every manufacturing company. In many production systems, particularly in the machine building industry and the automotive industry, they even represent the largest proportion of manufacturing processes and therefore have a significant influence on economic and environmental targets. The cutting tools used on NC controlled machine tools are usually made of carbide, which is produced with high energy input and the use of critical raw materials. In mechanical engineering, there are several approaches to substituting carbides with mineral materials, for example. These have interesting mechanical properties such as high strength and good damping and are also highly available and inexpensive. This paper examines the use of innovative end mills made of a rock composite material for machining aluminum, which is one of the most frequently machined materials. Different machining operations are compared and analysed regarding the process forces generated during machining and the resulting surface quality. It is shown that, depending on the machining operation, improvements can be achieved for both parameters. Despite the shorter tool life compared to carbide end mills, the approach shows the potential to make production systems more sustainable through these innovative tools.