Ice fixation milling of aluminum alloy honeycomb core: An experimental investigation

Aluminum alloy honeycomb core, while having sufficient plasticity, has inadequate radial strength. This makes clamping difficult during milling and makes the material prone to deformation and other defects. This paper proposes using freezing sucker and temperature control box in ice fixation machining. This study conducts comparative milling experiments via adhesive fixation (AF) and ice fixation (IF) experiments. It explores the macroscopic and microscopic surface morphologies of aluminum alloy honeycomb cores post-machining, and delves into the changes in milling force, honeycomb wall deformation, and cutting temperature. Experimental results indicate that IF greatly increases milling force. This effectively lessens deformation of the aluminum alloy honeycomb core and prevents defects like curling and edge collapse. It also reduces and stabilizes processing temperatures, cutting down surface roughness. This leads to a smoother, flatter surface and much better accuracy. Furthermore, the ice-filled media ease the intermittent impact on the honeycomb core during processing. This ensures cutting force stability and improves overall efficiency in high-quality processing of thin-walled honeycomb structures.