Influence of the Minimum Chip Thickness on the Obtained Surface Roughness During Turning Operations

Considerable efforts have been put into analyzing the obtained surface roughness during turning operations. However, knowledge is still lacking on how to model the arithmetic mean surface roughness Ra through using a general model applicable for all workpiece materials and process parameters. Further, the influence of the minimum chip thickness on the obtained surface roughness needs to be clarified. This article presents a new model for predicting the Ra surface roughness during turning operations. The model is based on physical and empirical knowledge of the turning process and has been experimentally validated through turning Al-SiCp MMC, cast iron, conventional- and stainless steels, as well as Ti6Al4 V. The obtained results show great potentials with an average error of 6.7% even though errors as large as 16.6% were obtained for some cases.