Machinability

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 1. Definition
2. Judging Machinability
3. Relative Machinability
4. Factors Affecting Machinability
A. Condition of Work Material
B. Physical Properties of Work Materials
C. Machining Parameters

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1- Introduction
Machinability: Refers to the ease with which a metal can be machined to an
acceptable surface finish.
1. Materials with good machinability:
 Require little power to remove material
 Achieve cutting at high speed
 Easily obtain a good finish
 Do not cause tool wear (long tool life).
3. Machinability is difficult to predict because machining has so many variables
4. The machinability is not a material characteristic.
5. A material that is machinable by a certain process may not be machinable by
another process.
6. A particular machining process found suitable under given conditions may not
be equally efficient for machining the same material under other conditions.

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Judging Machinability

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Judging Machinability
1-Tool life
 Materials cut without rapid tool wear (longer tool life) are generally machinable
 A workpiece material having small hard inclusions has lower machinability because of its rapid
tool wear (short tool life).
 One problem of using tool life as a machinability index is its sensitivity to tool material.

2. Chip formation
 Chip formation, friction at the tool/chip interface, and BUE are determinant to machinability.
 Chip formation is a function of the machine variables and workpiece material, and the machinability
ratings obtained by this method could be changed by provision of a suitable chip breaker.
 Long thin curled ribbon chips, can interfere with the operation leading to hazardous cutting area
(low machinability)
 A ductile material that has a tendency to adhere to the tool face or to form BUE (low-carbon
steel, pure aluminum, Cu, and stainless steel). is likely to produce a poor finish (low
machinability)

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Judging Machinability
3. Surface finish
The quality of the workpiece machined surface is sometimes useful in determining the
machinability of a material.
 Stainless steels, gas turbine alloy, and other metals with high strain-hardening ability also
tend to machine with BUEs indicating poor machinability.
 Materials, which machine with high shear angles, (aluminum alloys, cold-worked steels, free-
machining steels, and brass and titanium alloys) tend to minimize BUE effects have high
machinability.
 In roughing operations, no attention to surface finish which is a meaningless criterion of
judging machinability
 Machinability ratings based on surface finish do not agree with those obtained by cutting
force, cutting power, and tool life method.
 Titanium alloys have a high rating by finish measurements, low by tool life tests, and
intermediate by cutting force and power measurements

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Judging Machinability
4. Cutting forces and power consumption
 A metal through which the cutting forces are low has a good machinability.
 Net power consumption as an index of the machinability is similar to the cutting
force.
 Machinability in terms of specific energy (power/VRR, high specific energy indicates
less machinability.
 The metal removal factor (reciprocal of the specific energy).(high metal removal
factor could be said to have high machinability).

Relative Importance of Machinability Criterion in Roughing and Finishing

Order of Machinability Criterion Rough Cut Finish Cut

1 Tool life Surface finish
2 Power consumption Tool life
3 Surface finish Power consumption
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Relative Machinability
 Free-cutting steel (AISI B1112) - a steel having
0.08%–0.13% C, 0.60%–0.90% Mn, 0.09%–
0.13%,Ph and 0.16%–0.23% S and a hardness of
160 BHN is a reference material of a
machinability rating/index of 1.0.
 A material having an index <1 is more difficult to
machine in comparison with B1112 material. If the
index is >1, it is comparatively easier to machine that
material.
 The machinability of the reference material can be
expressed in terms of cutting speed V60 for a tool life
T = 60 min for a given tool material.
Relative machinability R m of a material.

𝑉60 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙

𝑅𝑚 =
𝑉60 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙

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Relative Machinability

Machinability Rating Materials

Excellent rating Mg-alloys, Al-alloys, duralumin

Good rating Zn-alloys, gunmetal, grey CI, brass, free cutting steel
Fair rating Low carbon steel, cast Cu, annealed Ni, low alloy steel
Poor rating Ingot iron, free cutting 18-8 stainless steel
Very poor rating HSS, 18-8 stainless steel, Monel metal
Not machinable White CI, Stellite, carbides, ceramics

If different tool materials are used to assess relative machinability, different ratings
may occur

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Factors Affecting Machinability
Condition of Work Material

Heat treatment Fabrication Yield strength

Work material Grain size

Microstructure
conditions

Chemical composition

Hardness
Tensile strength

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Factors Affecting Machinability
Physical Properties of Work Materials

Thermal conductivity

Physical
Work hardening Thermal expansion
properties

Modulus of elasticity

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Factors Affecting Machinability
Machining Parameters

Tool material Tool geometry

Cutting speed Machining Parameters Cutting fluid

Rigidity of the machine tool Machining operation

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Hassan El-Hofy