When milling titanium alloy, the cutting temperature has a strong impact on the degree of tool wear and, in turn, tool life and the surface quality of the workpiece. The distribution of the temperature field on a tool’s rake face can be improved through the use of micro-textures, which help to reduce friction and, ultimately, wear on the tool. In this paper we present a new way to measure cutting temperature and examine heat distribution when milling titanium alloy with micro-textured ball-end milling tools. We first establish the heat flux density function for the contact area between the workpiece and the tool and then for the rest of the tool. Thermal stress simulation shows that adhesive wear tends to happen in the contact area and on the flank face, rather than at the tip of the tool, with the temperature distribution gradient for the rest of the tool being more uniform. The maximum value for thermal stress on the cutting edge was 2.0782 × 106 Pa. This decrease as you move away from the cutting edge along the contact area between the tool and the workpiece. Maximum deformation of the tool is also mainly concentrated at the principal contact point, with a value of 1.9445 × 10⁻⁹ m. This, too, decreases as you move away from the cutting edge and into the rest of the contact area. This research provides the basis for the optimization of tool structure and further investigation of the thermo-mechanical coupling behavior of micro-textured ball-end milling cutters when milling titanium alloy.

In the research regarding laser-processed micro-textured carbide tool surfaces, there remains a lack of research on the relationship between micro-textured preparation processes and the degree of fatigue wear experienced by micro-textured surfaces. To study the effect of a laser-textured surface on the friction and wear properties of friction pairs, it first of all conducted friction and wear tests to obtain optimal processing parameters. By using a scanning electron microscope, the fatigue wear mechanism for a micro-textured surface was observed. Experimental results based on fatigue wear theory show that a micro-textured surface phase has better fatigue resistance than a smooth surface. Under the same friction conditions and selected test parameters, a micro-textured surface phase can reduce the maximum fatigue and friction wear of a smooth surface by 38.4%. This study provides a theoretical basis and source of reference for the rational formulation of micro-texture parameters and improvements in the performance of micro-textures during cutting processes.

In the milling of titanium alloy, the distribution of milling force and its related law of change seriously affect the physical properties of workpiece materials, the stress distribution on a cutter’s rake face and the interaction between the workpiece, the cutter and the chip. This article reports on a study of the stress field distribution under the conditions of anti-friction and anti-wear when cutting titanium alloy with a micro-textured ball-end milling cutter. Milling test data were used to establish empirical models of milling force and the contact area between the cutter and the chip. Based on this, the force density function of the cutter coordinate system was obtained and the equivalent stress and displacement of the cutter were simulated and analyzed. This in turn provided the means to acquire the instantaneous stress and strain relating to the cutter at any time. Analysis of the simulation results shows that the position in which the stress and strain are concentrated on the cutter is consistent with actual processing. This confirms the accuracy of the force density function and provides the basis for further study of thermo-mechanical coupling behaviors when engaged in using micro-textured ball-end milling cutters for the cutting of titanium.

Titanium Alloy is a typical material difficult to be processed for its characteristics of low thermal conductivity, and high chemical activity, which result in tool wear and the poor quality of the machined surface. In order to solve the problems existing in the processing of Titanium Alloy, considering the tool edge, micro-texture is implanted into the cemented carbide ball end milling cutter. The article analyzes the influence law of micro-texture and the tool edge radius of ball end milling cutter on mechanical properties of Titanium Alloy, establishes and verifies a mechanical predictive model of milling Titanium Alloy with ball end milling cutter surface based on the effect of micro-texture and the tool edge. Finally, with regard to the minimum cutting force as the target, the article uses genetic algorithm to optimize meso-geometrical features parameters of the cemented carbide ball end milling cutter. The article also provides the foundation for efficient and high-quality processing of Titanium Alloy.

The insertion of micro-textures plays a role in reducing friction and increasing wear resistance of the cutters, which also has a certain impact on the stress field of the cutter during milling. Therefore, in order to study the mechanisms of friction reduction and wear resistance of micro-textured cutters in high speed cutting of titanium alloys, the dynamic characteristics of the instantaneous stress field during the machining of titanium alloys with micro-textured cutters were studied by changing the distribution density of the micro-textures on the cutter. First, the micro-texture insertion area of the ball-end milling cutter was theoretically analyzed. Then, variable density micro-textured ball-end milling cutters and non-texture cutters were used to cut titanium alloy, and the mathematical model of milling force and cutter-chip contact area was established. Then, the stress density functions of different micro-texture density cutters and non-texture cutters were established to simulate the stress fields of variable density micro-textured ball-end milling cutters and non-texture cutters. Finally, the genetic algorithm was used to optimize the variable density distribution of micro-textured cutters in which the instantaneous stress field of the cutters was taken as the optimization objective. The optimal solution for the variable density distribution of the micro-textured cutter in the cutter-chip tight contact area was obtained as follows: the texture distribution densities in the first, second, and third areas are second, and third areas are 0.0905, 0.0712, and 0.0493, respectively.