Influence of micro-structured milling cutter on the milling load and surface roughness of 6061 aluminum alloy

During the milling process, milling load and micro-vibration reduction may significantly improve the machining performance. Micro-structuring of the milling tool is one of the perspective approaches, providing force reduction and vibration suppression. In this work, two kinds of micro-structures grooved on the tool rake face have been investigated during aluminum alloy cutting: linear grooves (LG) and V-shaped grooves (VG). Milling load and the surface quality of the machined workpiece were selected to assess the milling performance of the selected tools. The results indicated that the VG milling tool showed the best performance with the reduced average milling load FX, FY, and FZ up to 9.27%, 21.98%, and 12.44% and root mean square error of FY up to 6.94% compared with a conventional milling tool. Moreover, the usage of the VG milling tool could achieve less galling wear and scratch marks on the machined surface, providing the smallest surface roughness of 0.541.