Assessment of factors influencing surface roughness on the machining of Al/SiC particulate composites

The utilization of Al/SiC particulate composite materials in many different engineering fields has undergone a tremendous increase. Accordingly, the need for accurate machining of composites has increased enormously. In the present study, an attempt has been made to assess the factors influencing surface roughness on the machining of Al/SiC particulate composites. Experimental design concept has been used for experimentation. The machining experiments were conducted on lathe using tungsten carbide tool inserts (K10) with two levels of factors. The factors considered were: % volume fraction of SiC, cutting speed, depth of cut and feed rate. A procedure has been developed to assess and optimize the chosen factors to attain minimum surface roughness by incorporating: (i) response table and response graph, (ii) normal probability plot (iii) interaction graphs and (iv) analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique.