A study of surface roughness during the end milling of AISI-1020 steel using partial factorial design

Abstract

End Milling is the most efficient and creative manufacturing method for roughing and finishing large surfaces of metallic parts. End milling process has been studied by many researchers. The main research subjects are cutting forces, surface roughness, search of optimal parameters and tool wear. An area of great interest is the optimization of cutting parameters, for the selection of the optimal cutting parameters for end milling operation. The current study presents an approach to the determination of the optimal cutting parameters to create minimum surface roughness levels in the end milling of AISI-1020 steel. In present study the fractional factorial design technique is used to optimize the process parameter in end milling of AISI-1020 steel with tungsten coated end mill inserts. The parameters taken for the study are cutting speed (rpm), feed rate (mm/tooth), depth of cut (mm) and coolant condition. Out of these four parameter the coolant used is a categorical parameter rest has numeric value. Two level of 24-1 fractional factorial designs of eight runs was selected for conducting the experiments. The mathematical models were developed from the data generated. The graphical analysis through various plots for surface roughness plots also implemented.