ORIGINAL ARTICLE An investigation of optimum SiO2 nanolubrication parameters in end milling of aerospace Al6061-T6 alloy

Abstract Aluminium AL6061-T6 is a common alloy which is used for many purposes since it has the superior mechan-ical properties such as hardness and weldability. It is com-monly used in aircraft, automotive and packaging food industries. Milling of Al6061-T6 would be a good process especially in producing varieties shape of products to adapt with different applications. The capability of the CNC mill-ing machine to make batch production would be a notewor-thy advantage. However, the demand for high quality focuses attention on product quality, especially the rough-ness of the machined surface, because of its effect on prod-uct appearance, function and reliability. Introducing correct lubrication in the machining zone could improve the tribo-logical characteristic of Al6061-T6 leading to higher prod-uct quality. In this research work, the optimum SiO2 nanolubrication parameters in milling of Al6061-T6 are investigated to achieve correct lubrication conditions for the lowest cutting force, cutting temperature and surface roughness. These parameters include nanolubricant concen-tration, nozzle angle and air carrier pressure. Taguchi opti-mization method is used with standard orthogonal array L16(4) 3. Furthermore, analyses on surface roughness and cutting force are conducted using signal-to-noise (S/N) re-sponse analysis and the analysis of variance (Pareto ANOVA) to determine which process parameters are statis-tically significant. Finally, confirmation tests were carried out to investigate the optimization improvements