Investigation of trochoidal milling nickel-based superalloy

Nickel-based superalloy is a relatively new class of materials that exhibit high mechanical strength, ductility, creep resistance at high operating temperatures and stress levels. It is widely used in aero engine parts such as blade and blisk. Due to its high hardness and high strength at high temperature, it's difficult to machine nickel-based alloy. In order to reduce tool wear, trochoidal milling strategy is studied in this paper. With trochoidal tool path strategy, tool load can be reduced and the tool has enough time to be cooled under high cutting temperature. Tool immersion angle in trochoidal milling is smaller than slot milling, thus the tool load can be reduced. Experiment results show that tool flank wear with normal slot milling is about four times larger than that with trochoidal milling. Trochoidal tool path strategy can be further developed for rough milling of compressor blades or rough milling hub of blisks.