APPLICATION OF EXPERIMENTAL CERAMIC TOOLS IN THE MILLING OF COMPONENTS IN INCONEL 718 OBTAINED BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Abstract

This is a joint work proposal between the Center for Precision Metrology (CPM) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and the Machining Group at UNESP in Guaratinguetá. The introduction of the production of components through Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been gaining a lot of space and importance in several sectors, mainly aerospace and biomedical, allowing the reduction of material waste and simplification of manufacturing steps. However, in order for the surface quality of these components to meet general specifications, machining operations are necessary in post-processing. The INCONEL 718 superalloy is used in components that require exceptional chemical and mechanical properties at high temperatures, such as the manufacture of high-performance aerospace components. However, the machining of superalloys presents numerous difficulties due to the high physical/chemical properties of this material. The objective of this work is to compare the behavior of experimental ceramic tools, based on aluminum oxide, developed by the UNESP machining research group in milling for INCONEL 718 samples obtained by forging and also in samples produced from Additive Manufacturing (L-BPF method), in addition to determining the best parameters for the operation. During the milling process, different cutting parameters will be applied (speed, feed rate and cutting depth). In response, the behavior of forces and power consumed during the process will be evaluated using sensors and transducers for each set of input parameters. Furthermore, the roughness obtained will also be correlated, as well as comparison with the milling of components obtained by traditional techniques (forging, rolling, etc.). This project foresees that both tests and analyzes involving tools and surfaces will be carried out using CPM (UNCC) resources, highlighting that the main objective is to evaluate the potential of using these experimental tools in components produced by AM.