HOLE MAKING USING BALL HELICAL MILLING ON TITANIUM ALLOYS

Abstract

In this article, results of helical ball milling for hole making on Ti-6Al-4V alloy are presented and compared with drilling. Two different machining strategies were tested with a ball end mill. In the first strategy only a helical milling path was used to achieve the nominal diameter. The second strategy has two stages; first, helical milling considering a diameter 50 µm below the nominal, and second, the tool flank of the ball end mill were used to remove the stock left with a single contouring operation. Experimental tests were performed taking into account the process time, final quality of holes, hole diameter, roughness and burr formation at tool entrance and exit. With helical milling two advantages were concluded: the process is versatile because one tool is suitable for a range of diameters and negligible burrs are produced. However hardness in the zones close to hole internal surfaces machined with the ball end mill tool decreases with respect to twist drilling. The information obtained from this research work defines suitable cutting parameters for the helical milling process in the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V with ball end mills.