Study of cutting force and surface roughness in the turning of polytetrafluoroethylene composites with a polycrystalline diamond tool

Despite the importance of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites in many industrial applications, especially for space industry, very little is known about the machinability of these composites. This paper presents an investigation into the turning of PTFE composites using a polycrystalline diamond tool in order to analyze the effect of the cutting parameters and insert radius on the cutting force and surface roughness. A strain gauge based dynamometer for the main cutting force measurement in turning was constructed. The force signals were captured and processed using a strain data acquisition system based on the Sider8 and CATMAN software. Cutting force and surface roughness were measured through longitudinal turning, according to the experimental plan developed based on the Taguchi methodology. The signal-to-noise ratio and the analysis of variance were applied to the experimental data in order to determine the effect of the process variables on the surface roughness and cutting force, and predictive models have been derived.

► Turning of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites is investigated using the Taguchi method.
► Cutting force and surface roughness are measured and predictive models are derived.
► Analysis of variance is applied to find out the significance and contribution of cutting parameters.