Influence of Heat Treatment Duration on the Machinability of Beech Wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) by Planing

The comparative behavior of heat-treated and untreated beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) were studied in response to planing. Beech wood samples were heat-treated in an electric oven without air circulation, at atmospheric pressure, at 200 degrees C for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 h. After conditioning, both the heat-treated samples and the untreated controls were planed at a rotation speed (n) of 4567 rpm and a feed speed (u) of 10 m/min via a "silent power" cylindrical cutter. The cutting power was measured during machining by a Vellemann DAQ board. After processing, the surface quality was measured along and across the cutting direction with a stylus MarSurf XT20 instrument, and the processing roughness was assessed by the roughness parameter Rk. The influence of the heat-treating duration upon the cutting power and the processing roughness were analyzed and correlated to the mass loss after the heat treatment. Linear regression functions were generated for both of the correlations.