Research Article

An experimental research on the machinability of a high temperature titanium alloy BTi-6431S in turning process

¹ School of Aeronautic Manufacturing Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330063, PR China
² Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China

^* e-mail: gaoyf@nchu.edu.cn

Received: 17 July 2018
Accepted: 16 August 2018

Abstract

Titanium alloys are extensively applied in the aircraft manufacturing due to their excellent mechanical and physical properties. At present, the α + β alloy Ti6Al4V is the most commonly used titanium alloy in the industry. However, the highest temperature that it can be used only up to 300 °C. BTi-6431S is one of the latest developed high temperature titanium alloys, which belongs to the near-α alloy group and has considerably high tensile strength at 650 °C. This paper investigates the machinability of BTi-6431S in the terms of cutting forces, chip formation and tool wear. The experiments are carried out in a range of cutting parameters and the results had been investigated and analyzed. The investigation shows that: (1) the specific cutting forces in the machining of BTi-6431S alloy are higher than in the machining of Ti6Al4V alloy; (2) the regular saw-tooth chips more easily formed and the shear bands are narrower in the machining of BTi-6431S; (3) SEM and EDS observations of the worn tools indicate that more cobalt elements diffuse into the workpiece from tool inserts during machining of BTi-6431S alloy, which significantly aggravates tool wear rate. The experimental results indicate that the machinability of BTi-6431S near alpha titanium alloy is significantly lower than Ti-6Al-4V alloy.