The Influence of Cutting Conditions on Surface Integrity of a Wrought Magnesium Alloy

Surface integrity of machined components has a significant impact on their functional performance. Modification of surface integrity, which includes roughness, residual stress and microstructure may limit product performance such as fatigue life. In this study, the influence of machining conditions in turning on surface integrity of a wrought Mg-Zn-Zr-RE alloy was investigated. First, turned surfaces were obtained through a design of experiments, where input parameters are cutting speed, feed, depth of cut and nose radius. Second, modifications of surface integrity such as tensile/compressive residual stress, microhardness, twinning and surface roughness were correlated with cutting parameters. This study suggests optimal cutting conditions to achieve a given surface integrity and improve fatigue life.