Machining and Machinability of Aluminum Alloys - InTech.pdfVIP

18 Machining and Machinability of Aluminum Alloys V. Songmene, R. Khettabi, I. Zaghbani, J. Kouam, and A. Djebara École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal Quebec H3C 1K3 Canada 1. Introduction The use of materials with low specific weight is an effective way of reducing the weight of structures. Aluminum alloys are among the most commonly used lightweight metallic materials as they offer a number of different interesting mechanical and thermal properties. In addition, they are relatively easy to shape metals, especially in material removal processes, such as machining. In fact, aluminum alloys as a class are considered as the family of materials offering the highest levels of machinability, as compared to other families of lightweight metals such as titanium and magnesium alloys. This machinability quantifies the machining performance, and may be defined for a specific application by various criteria, such as tool life, surface finish, chip evacuation, material removal rate and machine-tool power. It has been shown that chemical composition, structural defects and alloying elements significantly influence machinability [W Konig et al., 1983]. Thus, with similar chemical compositions, the machinability of alloys can be improved by different treatments. Heat treatments, which increase hardness, will reduce th