Due to the special characteristics of aluminum, no matter what kind of machine tool is used for machining, the efficiency, life and gloss of the workpiece are often not satisfactory. Therefore, when processing aluminum, how to choose the right tool and processing technology has become a concern.
Let's first understand the processing characteristics of aluminum and aluminum alloy: aluminum has low strength, low hardness and plasticity, which is suitable for plastic forming processing, but the tendency of deformation and reinforcement during cutting is large, easy to stick to the tool, and it is difficult to process a bright and clean surface. Compared with pure aluminum, aluminum alloy has improved a lot in strength and hardness, but compared with steel, it has low strength and hardness, small cutting force and good thermal conductivity.
Because of the soft quality and plasticity of aluminum alloy, it is easy to stick to the tool when cutting and form chip tumor on the tool, and may produce melt welding phenomenon on the tool edge when cutting at high speed, which makes the tool lose cutting ability and affects the machining accuracy and surface finish. In addition, the coefficient of thermal expansion of aluminum alloy is large, and the cutting heat is likely to cause thermal deformation of the workpiece and reduce the machining accuracy.
