INVESTIGATING MACHINABILITY PROPERTIES OF CU AND B4C-REINFORCED 6061 ALUMINUM ALLOYS BASED ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Abstract

Aluminum alloys are widely employed in design and material selection in the industry due to their superior ergonomic properties and low cost. Therefore, aluminum has been strengthened with various elements and powder metal reinforcements in recent studies. In this study, the 6061 aluminum alloy, which is used widely in production, was reinforced with B4C powder metal and copper elements in a hybrid form. The mechanical, metallurgical, and machinability properties of all reinforced 6061 aluminum materials were examined and characterized. In particular, this study examined the machinability of the materials produced differently from the literature by using equations of energy power conversion and the Taguchi Method, which is one of the experimental design methods, and compared the results of the machining process for different materials. Furthermore, the effects of feed rate, cutting speed, and amount of passes on machinability properties were investigated by conducting the ANOVA analysis on the experimental design parameters and levels. Consequently, while Cu and B4C reinforcement improved the hardness and mechanical properties, positive results were also obtained on machinability.