Turning of Aluminium Composites: Characteristics and Future Prospects

Abstract

Aluminium matrix composites have widespread applications in different industrial areas including automobile and aerospace owing to their improved mechanical and tribological properties over conventional monolithic materials. As such, machining of these metal matrix composites is an important aspect to be studied in order to manufacture desired components with close tolerances. Presence of hard abrasive ceramic reinforcements in composites increases the chance of tool wear and hence, increased machining cost during conventional machining process. In order to improve machining characteristics of aluminium composites, machining is carried out using specialized carbide tools (both coated and uncoated), polycrystalline diamond inserts, CVD diamond coated inserts, etc. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review on turning of aluminium composites. Factors affecting machinability like content, size, and morphology of reinforcement along with matrix hardness are discussed. Effect of process variables such as cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, etc. on response variables such as tool wear, surface finish, cutting forces, cutting temperature, etc. has been highlighted. Moreover, failure mechanisms involved in turning process occurring due to debonding, plastic deformation, particle fracture, etc. are deliberated in this study. Various modelling and optimization studies in this area are discussed in detail as well. Furthermore, scope for future work in this area including sustainable machining is also elucidated.