Machining of Titanium Alloys with and without Coolant

Machining titanium is challenging due to its low thermal conductivity which results in very high temperatures at the tool/workpiece interface and in addition there is a tendency for titanium to react with most cutting materials, resulting in surface and subsurface deformation in the workpiece. This paper investigates the relationship between vibration and surface deformation that occurs while machining commercially pure titanium and Ti6Al4V alloy materials under both wet and dry machining conditions. The results have demonstrated that vibration monitoring (normalised peak frequency amplitude) can be used as a predictive tool for optimising the surface quality of the machined workpiece. Twinning plays a prominent role in the subsurface of the machined Grade 2 material.