Effect of compressed air and cutting speed on surface roughness of 6061 Aluminium Alloy / Nor Aznan Mohd Nor...[et al.]

Globally, the manufacturing industry is moving towards sustainable
manufacturing in order to preserve natural resources and human well-being.
Compressed air is not only recognised as an ideal option to replace cutting
fluid in order to flush away chips for surface quality reasons but also to
reduce the environmental burden due to disposal of used cutting fluid, as well
as to minimise the consumption of natural resources in cutting fluid
production. However, chip clearing in order to prevent a tool from recutting
the chips is a great challenge in dry milling. Considering this issue,
compressed air is necessary to prevent a tool from recutting the chips. In this
experimental work, slot milling experiment based on 3² factorial
experimental design was conducted in order to identify the effect of
compressed air and cutting speed on the surface roughness of 6061
aluminium alloy. Three levels of compressed air and cutting speed were used,
whereas the depth of cut and feed rate were held constant. The results
demonstrated that the higher amount of compressed air and cutting speed
will lead to high surface quality and vice versa. Nevertheless, the surface
roughness generated at different cutting speed does not depend on the
amount of compressed air.