Abstract
Fundamental studies on the machinability of aluminum and its alloys were carried out for 12 kinds of Al, Al-Cu, Al-Mg, and Al-Si alloys which are commonly used. On the other hand, the effects of heat-treatment such as general stabilizing, annealing, and T4 and T6 treatment on the machinability of heat-treated alloys were also examined.
The results obtained were summarized as follows.
1) Al-Cu alloys showed lower cutting hardness than others; especially, the hardness of 11S was the lowest. Al-Mg-alloys showed the 2nd in ascending order of the hardness.
2) Most of alloys showing low cutting hardness had a large amount of intermetallic compounds in their structure.
3) The tendency of machinability in drilling was almost the same as that in turning.
4) The appearance of cutting face was very excellent in T4 or T6 treated samples, for example, in which fine intermetallic compounds are uniformly dispersed.
