Tool wear is a major cause of accelerated tool failure during the milling of aluminum alloy. The periodically cutting force directly affect the cutting heat and tool wear due to the intermittent cutting characteristics of the milling process. The focus of this paper is to analyze the influence of the variation of cutting force on tool wear behavior. The change law of cutting force by cutting parameters was analyzed firstly. Secondly, the variation of the wear land width (VB) of tool flank face by the milling length was analyzed. Thirdly, the wear morphology and the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) results of tool rake face and flank face in different cutting parameters were observed by tungsten filament scanning electron microscope. Finally, considering the cutting force effect, the tool wear mechanism during high-speed milling of Aluminum-Alloy Die Castings 12 (ADC12, 12 means aluminum number 12) was analyzed. The cutting force in tangential direction is predominant during high-speed milling aluminum alloy, which decreases gradually with the increase of cutting speed but increases gradually with the feed rising. The adhesion-oxidation wear was main wear mechanism of tool rake face during high-speed milling. While adhesive wear was the main wear mechanism of the tool flank face during high-speed milling. It is found that the formation of adhesive wear is the process from particle adhesion to melting until the formation of adhesive layer, which related to the change of cutting force.

ADC12 aluminum alloy has been widely used in the aerospace, ship, and automotive fields because of its high specific strength, excellent die-casting performance, and wear resistance. Adhesion wear is the main wear mechanism of high-speed milling ADC12 aluminum alloy. The most important factor affecting adhesion wear is the tool–chip interface friction, which is directly manifested in the tool–chip interface temperature. Therefore, the temperature variation during the milling of aluminum alloy is analyzed using a temperature field model and infrared temperature measurement technology. Then, the tool wear morphology and the tool wear land width are observed using a scanning electron microscope. Finally, the tool wear mechanism considering the tool–chip interface temperature is discussed. The tool–chip interface temperature is related to the friction angle, tool–chip contact length, and friction force at the rake face, which increases first and then decreases as the cutting speed and feed rate increase. During the formation of the adhesive layer, the tool–chip interface temperature increases, the change rate of the cutting force and the tool wear rate increase, and adhesion, oxidation, and abrasive and delamination wear are generated on the tool surface. With the increase in temperature, the tool wear rate increases, the molten adhesive layer on the tool surface is accompanied by crack propagation, and adhesion wear, oxidation wear, and abrasive wear occur on the tool surface.

Because of the massive work and high cost of milling experiments, finite element analysis technology (FEA) was used to analyze the milling process of ADC12 aluminum alloy. An improved Johnson–Cook (J–C) constitutive equation was fitted by a series of dynamic impact tests in different strain rates and temperatures. It found that the flow stress gradually increases as the strain rate rises, but it decreases as the test temperature rises. Compared with the J–C constitutive model, the predicted flow stress by the improved J–C constitutive model was closer to the experimental results when the strain rate was larger than 8000 s⁻¹ and the temperature was higher than 300 °C. A two-dimensional cycloidal cutting simulation model was constructed based on the two J–C constitutive equations which was validated by milling experiments at different cutting speeds. The simulation results based on the improved J–C constitutive equation were closer to the experimental results and showed the cutting force first increased and then decreased, with cutting speed increasing, reaching a maximum at 600 m/min.