Thin-wall parts are common in the aeronautical sector. However, their machining presents serious challenges such as vibrations and part deflections. To deal with these challenges, different approaches have been followed in recent years. This work presents the state of the art of thin-wall light-alloy machining, analyzing the problems related to each type of thin-wall parts, exposing the causes of both instability and deformation through analytical models, summarizing the computational techniques used, and presenting the solutions proposed by different authors from an industrial point of view. Finally, some further research lines are proposed.

One of the main criteria for the establishment of the performance of a forming process by material removal is based on cutting tool wear. Wear is usually caused by different mechanisms, however, only one is usually considered as predominant or the controller of the process. This experimental research is focused on the application of Pin-on-Disc wear tests, in which the tribological interference between UNS A92024-T3 Aluminum–Copper alloy and tungsten carbide (WC–Co) has been studied. The main objective of this study is focused on the determination of the predominant wear mechanisms involved in the process, as well as the characterization of the sliding and friction effects by using SEM and Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques, as applied to WC–Co (cutting tool material)/Al (workpiece material) which are widely used in the aerospace industry. Performed analysis prove the appearance of abrasive wear mechanisms prior to adhesion. This fact promotes adhesion mechanisms in several stages because of the surface quality deterioration, presenting different alloy composition in the form of a Built-Up Layer (BUL)/Built-Up Edge (BUE).

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Adhesion wear is the main wear mechanism in the dry turning of aluminium alloys. This type of wear produces an adhesion of the machining material on the cutting tool, decreasing the final surface quality of the machining parts and making it more difficult to maintain industrial tolerances. This work studies the influence of the cutting parameters on the volume of material adhered to the cutting tool surface for dry machining of AA2024 (Al-Cu). For that purpose, a specific methodology based on the automatic image processing method that can obtain the area and the thickness of the adhered material has been designed. This methodology has been verified with the results obtained through 3D analysis techniques and compared with the adhered volume. The results provided experimental parametric models for this wear mechanism. These models are analytic approximations of experimental data. The feed rate mainly results in low cutting speed, while low depths of cut presents a different behaviour due to the low contact pressure. The unstable behaviour of aluminium adhesion on the cutting tool produces a high variability of results. This continuous change introduces variation in the process caused by the continuous change of the cutting tool geometry.