Effect of machining parameters on surface roughness, material removal rate and roundness error during the wet turning of Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Turning process is one of the most fundamental machining processes used in the manufacturing industry. The process of turning is influenced by many factors such as cutting velocity, feed rate, depth of cut, geometry of cutting tool, and cutting conditions etc., to name a few. In machining operations, achieving the desired surface quality of the machined product is really a challenging job. This is due to the fact that quality are highly influenced by process parameters directly or indirectly. However, the extent of significant influence of the process parameters are different for different responses. The main objective of this work is to investigate the effects of machining parameters, especially tool nose radius, on surface finish, Material Removal Rate (MRR) and Roundness error during the wet turning of Ti-6Al-4V. The selection of Ti-6Al-4V is due to the reason that it offers a unique combination of high strength, light weight and corrosion resistance which have made it an important material in aerospace applications. Despite its advantages the machinability of Ti-6Al-4V possesses many challenges such as its low thermal conductivity and work hardening effect reduces the tool life and quality of the product. The proposed experimental study focuses on the turning process of Ti-6Al-4V using Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coated carbide tools. Four different parameters are chosen as process variables: cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut and tool nose radius. In this study analysis is done based on Taguchi method of optimization and the experimental design and further analysis carried out with the help of statistical software Minitab 16. The results obtained from the analysis is validated with mathematical software PYTHON.