Machining performance of thermally modified wood in milling processes

Abstract In order to study the machining properties of thermally modified wood during milling processes, milling experiments on thermally modified wood were carried out to analyse the effects of thermal modification temperature, cutting depth, feed speed and spindle speed on cutting force, cutting temperature and surface roughness. The experimental findings demonstrated that while cutting depth and feed speed were increased, cutting force, cutting temperature, and surface roughness rose, while these variables dropped as spindle speed was raised. Lower cutting depth, feed speed and higher spindle speed could be selected for better surface quality. As the thermal modification temperature rose, surface roughness increased and cutting force and cutting temperature decreased. The experimental results also showed that although the cutting force on thermally modified wood was reduced compared to untreated wood, the strength of the thermally modified wood was reduced, the cutting force was still more than the capacity of the wood cell walls, which led to a reduction in surface quality, and as the temperature was increased, the quality of the milled surface would deteriorate. This study provides a detailed analysis of the milling performance of thermally modified wood, which holds significant relevance for practical processing of thermally modified wood.