Modelling and analysis for the temperature field of the machined surface in the face milling of aluminium alloy

In the face milling of large low-rigidity aluminium alloy parts, the heat generated is one of the most important issues and leads to thermal expansion of the workpiece and the serious reduction of dimensional and geometrical precision. In this paper, a new heat transfer analytical model for face milling was established based on the heat source method, in which the cutting edge of the machine tool was considered as a finite-length rotating line heat source. Then, a transient numerical simulation was also conducted to predict the temperature field on the machined surface in single-tooth and multi-tooth milling by using the finite-element method (FEM). Finally, experiments involving the measurement of the aluminium alloy milling temperature were performed using a semi-artificial thermocouple, in which the hot end of the thermocouple was embedded into the machined surface to obtain the instantaneous face milling temperature. Those experimental results exhibited good agreement with the results from the theoretical analytical model and numerical simulation.