Effects of cutting temperature on machining accuracy in turning of alminum alloys

The thermal expansion coefficient of aluminum alloys is about three times as large as that of steel and iron. A considerable raise of cutting temperature is recognized in machining of aluminum alloys and the effects of the heat on dimension accuracy cannot be neglected. In particular, the compensation of the heat for machining accuracy will be an important problem in precision machining under numerical control. This paper describes theoretical analysis of dimensional errors in radial directions due to expansion by cutting heat in turning of duralumin (2017) round bars. The results of analysis were compared with those of the cutting tests. When the calculation for analysis was made in consideration of boundary conditions, the values obtained were very approximate to the measured values. Therefore, it would be possible to compensate cutting heat for machining accuracy of the material.