A Surface Roughness and Power Consumption Analysis When Slot Milling Austenitic Stainless Steel in a Dry Cutting Environment

Engineered components must satisfy the surface texture requirements and traditionally surface roughness (arithmetic average, Ra) has been used as one of the principles methods to assess quality. Surface roughness is a result of the cutting parameters such as: cutting speed, feed per tooth and the axial depth of cut, also the tool’s geometry, tool wear vibrations, etc. Moreover, the surface finish influences the mechanical properties such as fatigue behavior, wear, corrosion, lubrication, and electrical conductivity. The research reported herein is focused mainly on surface roughness and power consumption analysis of an austenitic stainless steel milled in a dry cutting environment. The experiments were conducted on a Siemens 840D Bridgeport Vertical Machining center 610XP2. The selection of this workpiece material was based on it’s widely applications in cutlery, hardware, surgical instruments, industrial equipment and in the automotive and aerospace industry due to its high corrosion resistance and high strength characteristics. The results show that selection of a careful combination of cutting parameters can achieve low values of surface roughness and power consumption instead of changing the cutting parameters individually.