Compared with the conventional drilling, the helical milling has obvious advantages in making holes of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). Nevertheless, the rapid wear of cutting edges readily causes some defects in the outlet holes, such as burrs and tearing. In order to improve the hole-making quality of CFRP, a comparative experimental study on conventional and ultrasonic-assisted bidirectional helical milling of CFRP was carried out. The wear mechanism of the forward and reverse cutting edges was analyzed in the two types of machining, and the change laws of cutting forces and hole wall quality were obtained by different machining means. The experimental results indicated that the ank face of forward and reverse cutting edges was dominated by the abrasive wear mechanism in the ultrasonic-assisted milling. With aggravation of the tool wear, no obvious coating peeled off the forward cutting edge, the reverse cutting edge remained relatively intact, and the wear form of neither cutting edge changed.Furthermore, in the ultrasonic-assisted reverse milling, the axial force and hole diameter deviation were restrained better than in the conventional milling, and especially when the tool wear occurred, the cutting force uctuation varied slowly. In the ultrasonic-assisted milling, the shear fracture predominated over bending fracture. Meanwhile, the time variation of effective rake angles improved the chip breaking and removing performance of cutters, and thus the machining quality of hole wall was enhanced obviously.

Titanium alloy materials, with excellent chemical and physical properties, are widely applied to the manufacture of key components in the aerospace industry. Nevertheless, its hard-to-machine characteristic causes various problems in the machining process, such as severe tool wear, difficulty to ensure good surface quality, etc. To achieve high efficiency and quality of machining titanium alloy materials, this paper conducted an experimental research on the high-speed milling of TC11 titanium alloy with self-propelled rotary milling cutters. In the work, the wear mechanism of self-propelled rotary milling cutters was explored, the influence of milling velocity was analyzed on the cutting process, and the variation laws were obtained of milling forces, chip morphology and machined surface quality with the milling length. The results showed that in the early and middle stages of milling, the insert coating peeled off evenly under the joint action of abrasive and adhesive wear mechanisms. As the milling length increased, the dense notches occurred on the cutting edge of the cutter, the wear mechanism converted gradually into fatigue wear, and furthermore coating started peeling off the cutting edge with the occurrence of thermal fatigue cracks on the insert. As the milling length was further extended, the milling forces tended to intensify, the chip deformation worsened, and the obvious cracks occurred at the bottom of chips. Moreover, the rise in milling velocity reduced the tool wear resistance, increased obviously the milling forces and the surface roughness.

Titanium alloy is widely used for manufacturing structural parts of high-end equipment due to its excellent mechanical properties, despite difficulty in being machined. Nowadays, titanium alloy parts are mostly machined by ball-end milling cutters (BEMC), but the cutting edge structure of the BEMC limits the improvement in machining efficiency and surface quality of the parts. In this paper, a circular-arc milling cutter (CAMC) with large-curvature cutting edge was proposed; the differential geometry method was used for establishing the geometric model for the contour surface of the CAMC and the mathematical model for the spiral cutting edge line; the conversion matrix between grinding wheel and workpiece coordinates was introduced to derive the equation of grinding wheel trajectory when the rake face of the CAMC was ground; the self-designed CAMC was ground and tested in accuracy. The comparative research was conducted experimentally on the side milling of titanium alloy TC4 with the CAMC and BEMC, and consequently the variation laws of milling forces, wear morphology and machined surface quality were obtained about the two types of milling cutters. The results indicated that the CAMC can effectively reduce the main milling force and keep the milling process stable. Moreover, the CAMC was worn slower and produced better surface quality than the BEMC.

Titanium alloy is widely used for manufacturing structural parts of high-end equipment due to its excellent mechanical properties, despite difficulty in being machined. Nowadays, titanium alloy parts are mostly machined by ball-end milling cutters (BEMC), but the cutting edge structure of the BEMC limits the improvement in machining efficiency and surface quality of the parts. In this paper, a circular-arc milling cutter (CAMC) with large-curvature cutting edge was proposed; the differential geometry method was used for establishing the geometric model for the contour surface of the CAMC and the mathematical model for the spiral cutting edge line; the conversion matrix between grinding wheel and workpiece coordinates was introduced to derive the equation of grinding wheel trajectory when the rake face of the CAMC was ground; the self-designed CAMC was ground and tested in accuracy. The comparative research was conducted experimentally on the side milling of titanium alloy TC4 with the CAMC and BEMC, and consequently the variation laws of milling forces, wear morphology and machined surface quality were obtained about the two types of milling cutters. The results indicated that the CAMC can effectively reduce the main milling force and keep the milling process stable. Moreover, the CAMC was worn slower and produced better surface quality than the BEMC.