A Cost Modelling Approach for Milling Titanium Alloys

The demand for titanium is continuously growing with the increased use of its alloys in new generation aircrafts. It is classified as a difficult-to-machine metal and therefore large costs are associated with the removal of material during machining operations. Working towards more resource efficient process chains, the aim is to reduce cycle time and cost, while maintaining or enhancing the machined product's performance. Despite extensive research on cost modelling over the years and the availability of commercial and free software solutions, their implementation on a wider scale is still missing. Addressing these needs in this paper, a practical approach for cost modelling is presented and its applicability in production environment demonstrated.