MACHINABILITY STUDY OF SiC NANO-PARTICLES REINFORCED MAGNESIUM NANOCOMPOSITES DURING MICRO-MILLING PROCESSES

This paper experimentally investigates the machinability of Magnesium Metal Matrix Composites (Mg-MMCs) with high volume fractions of SiC nano-particles. Samples of Mg-MMCs with 5 Vol.%, 10 Vol.% and 15 Vol.% reinforcements of SiC nano-particles were studied and compared with pure Magnesium. Different feedrates and spindle speeds were chosen as varied cutting parameters. Cutting forces, surface morphology and roughness were measured to understand the machinability of the four different materials during the micromilling process. Based on the experimental results, it is observed that the cutting force increases with the increase of the spindle speed, the feedrate and/or the volume fraction. A drastic increasing rate is observed when the nano-particles' volume fraction is increased from 5 to 10 Vol.%. The effect of the volume fraction is also studied in frequency domain, combined with the effect of the spindle speed and feedrate. More detailed theoretical analysis will be further studied to better understand the effect of the volume fraction on the machined surface quality and machining productivity.