INFLUENCE ON THE QUALITY OF MICROMILLING CHANNELS IN TITANIUM ALLOY PRODUCED OVER ABRASIVE WATERJET MACHINED SURFACES

Titanium alloys are widely employed in several industrial applications, including medical sector thanks to their biocompatibility, and are useful when high strength-to-weight ratio, high temperature and corrosion resistance are desirable. Since titanium alloys have considerably low thermal conductivity and high hardness, thus being difficult to machine, abrasive water-jet machining (AWJM) represents an interesting technology to preserve the material’s properties, as it also reduces the damage caused by material overheating. In order to obtain micro details for precision engineering, micromilling with micro-ball end mills can be used as a secondary process to refine the surface previously obtained. However, the existing literature lacks in-depth studies on the micromilling process applied to previously AWJ-machined pockets. The aim of this study is to analyze the surface quality of the channels after these two machining processes comparing the results obtained with workpieces without AWJ-machined pockets. To assess the quality of the specimens, surface roughness, burrs formation and dimensional accuracy are investigated. Furthermore, this research aims to offer practical recommendations to optimize the sequential use of hybrid advanced machining strategies for titanium alloys to highlight their potential in high-precision applications.