Laser-Assisted Milling of Turbine Blade Using Five-Axis Hybrid Machine Tool with Laser Module

Laser-assisted machining (LAM) is known to be an innovative hybrid technique to enhance the machinability of difficult-to-cut materials. LAM is a method of machining with cutting tools after the machinability is improved by laser preheating. Most studies of LAM have focused mainly on turning methods. Laser-assisted milling (LAMill) processes, including grinding and drilling, are still in the early stages of research and are limited, as the laser heat source must be able to move continuously ahead of the tool. In recent years, some research has concentrated on processing simple three-dimensional (3D) shapes using LAMill, but more innovative research must be done before this method can be commercialized. Therefore, the objective of this study is to manufacture a turbine blade using a five-axis hybrid machine tool with a laser module to make progress toward the goal of the commercialization of LAMill. The manufacturing of the turbine blade using a five-axis LAMill method is attempted for the first time in this study. A thermal analysis was conducted to determine the cutting depth for LAMill. The machining procedure was divided into roughing and finishing steps in order to process the rectangular titanium alloy specimens into a blade shape. The experiments were performed under identical conditions to verify the effectiveness of LAMill compared to CM. The cutting force, surface roughness and hardness were measured and a surface analysis was conducted to compare the machining characteristics after machining.