ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Optimization of turning parameters for surface roughness

and tool life based on the Taguchi method
Ahmet Hasalk & Ula ayda
Received: 24 April 2007 / Accepted: 25 June 2007 / Published online: 14 September 2007
# Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007
Abstract In this study, the effect and optimization of
machining parameters on surface roughness and tool life in
a turning operation was investigated by using the Taguchi
method. The experimental studies were conducted under
varying cutting speeds, feed rates, and depths of cut. An
orthogonal array, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and the
analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to the study
the performance characteristics in the turning of commer-
cial Ti-6Al-4V alloy using CNMG 120408-883 insert
cutting tools. The conclusions revealed that the feed rate
and cutting speed were the most influential factors on the
surface roughness and tool life, respectively. The surface
roughness was chiefly related to the cutting speed, whereas
the axial depth of cut had the greatest effect on tool life.
Keywords Surface roughness
.
Tool life
.
Taguchi method
.
Analysis of variance
.
Ti-6Al-4V
1 Introduction
Recent trends in the aerospace industry have been to increase
the use of titanium alloys because of the outstanding
mechanical properties that can be provided at critical load-
carrying locations in many military and commercial aircraft
[1]. These alloys are generally used for a component which
requires the greatest reliability and, therefore, the surface
roughness must be maintained. Additionally, it is essential to
satisfy surface integrity requirements using the cutting tool
material in an economic time frame [2]. Turning is one of the
fundamental machining processes, especially for the finish-
ing of machined parts. Usually, the selection of appropriate
machining parameters is difficult and relies heavily on the
operators experience and the machining parameters tables
provided by the machine-tool builder for the target material.
Hence, the optimization of operating parameters is of great
importance where the economy and quality of a machined
part play a key role [3].
In recognizing the need to reduce the cost and improve
quality and productivity, companies have initiated total
quality management (TQM). TQM is a revolutionary
management commitment, employee involvement, and the
use of statistical tools. The quality engineering method of
Dr. Taguchi, employing design of experiments (DOE), is
one of the most important statistical tools of TQM for
designing high-quality systems at reduced cost. Taguchi
methods provide an efficient and systematic way to
optimize designs for performance, quality, and cost. This
method has been used successfully in designing reliable,
high-quality products at low cost in such areas as
automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics [4].
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate an
application of Taguchi parameter design in order to identify
the optimum surface roughness and tool life performance
with a particular combination of cutting parameters in
turning titanium alloy.
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903
DOI 10.1007/s00170-007-1147-0
A. Hasalk
:
U. ayda (*)
Department of Manufacturing, University of Firat,
Technical Education Faculty,
23119 Elazig, Turkey
e-mail: ucaydas@firat.edu.tr
2 Experimental procedure
2.1 Materials, test conditions, and measurement
Commercial Ti-6Al-4Valloy was used as the target material
in the present investigation. The nominal chemical compo-
sition and mechanical properties of the tested material is
illustrated in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. Figure 1 presents
the microstructure of the titanium alloy. The experimental
studies were carried out on a Johnford T-35 CNC lathe
(20 kW). A CNMG 120408-883 insert which consisted of
94 wt% tungsten carbide with 6 wt% cobalt as the binder
was used as the cutting tool material. The tool life was
determined according to the recommendation of the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) criteria
(the period of cutting time until the average flank wear
reached 0.3 mm or the maximum flank wear land
V
Bmax
=0.6 mm). The surface roughness (R
a
) was measured
using a Mitutoyo SJ-201 portable device within the
sampling length of 2.5 cm. The cutting tool was studied
under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The level of
cutting parameter ranges and the initial parameter values
were chosen from the handbook recommended for the
tested material. The graphs, models, and tables presented in
the following sections were produced using the design of
experiments (DOE) and analysis modules of the software
packages JMP plus v.5.0. and STATISTICA 7.0.
2.2 The Taguchi method and design of experiments
Taguchis method of experimental design provide a simple,
efficient, and systematic approach for the optimization of
experimental designs for performance quality and cost [5].
The traditional experimental design methods are too
complex and difficult to use. Additionally, large numbers
of experiments have to be carried out when the number of
machining parameters increase [6, 7]. Taguchi [8] designed
certain standard orthogonal arrays by which the simulta-
neous and independent evaluation of two or more param-
eters for their ability to affect the variability of a particular
product or process characteristics can be done in a
minimum number of tests. A loss function is then defined
to calculate the deviations between the experimental value
and the desired value. This loss function is further
transferred into a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, . Usually,
there are three S/N ratios available, depending on the type
of characteristic; the lower-the better (LB), the higher-the
better (HB), and the nominal-the better (NB). In turning,
lower surface roughness and higher tool life are indications
of better performance. Therefore, for obtaining optimum
machining performance, the LB and HB ratios were
selected for surface roughness and tool life, respectively.
The S/N ratios for each type of characteristic can be
calculated as follows:
Nominal is the best : S=N
NB
10 log
j
y
s
2
y
!
1
Larger is the better maximize :
S=N
LB
10 log
1
n
X
n
i1
1
y
2
i
!
2
Table 1 Chemical composition of Ti-6Al-4V alloy
Ti Al V Fe O C N H
89.464 6.08 4.02 0.22 0.18 0.02 0.01 0.0053
Table 2 Workpiece material properties
Workpiece material Ti-6Al-4V
Hardness (HV) 600
Melting point (C) 1660
Ultimate textile strength (Mpa) 832
Yield strength 745
Impact-toughness (J) 34
Modulus of elasticity (10
6
Mpa) 11.3
Fig. 1 Typical microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V alloy (the light area is
predominant of the phase rich in aluminum and the dark area is
predominant of the phase rich in vanadium)
Table 3 Machining settings used in the experiments
Symbol Cutting parameter Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
A Cutting speed (m/min) 30 60 90
B Feed rate (mm/rev) 0.15 0.25 0.35
C Depth of cut (mm) 0.5 1 2
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903 897
Smaller is the better minimize :
S=N
SB
10 log
1
n
X
n
i1
y
2
i
!
3
where y is the average of the observed data, s
2
y
is the
variance of y, n is the number of observations, and y is the
observed data. Regardless of the category of the perfor-
mance characteristics, the greater S/N ratio corresponds to
the better performance characteristics. Therefore, the
optimal level of the process parameters is the level with
the highest S/N ratio, [9].
The machining parameters (control factors) chosen for the
experiments were: (i) cutting speed, (ii) feed rate, and (iii)
depth of cut. Each parameter has three levels, denoted 1, 2,
and 3. Table 3 indicates the factors and their levels. To select
an appropriate orthogonal array for the experiments, the total
degrees of freedom (DOF) need to be computed. The DOF
for the orthogonal array should be greater than or at least
equal to those for the design parameters. In this study, an L
9
orthogonal array with four columns and nine rows was used
(Table 4). This array has eight DOF and it can handle three-
level design parameters. The surface roughness and tool life
results were subject to the analysis of variance (ANOVA).
3 Analysis and the discussion of experimental results
3.1 Analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio
Table 4 shows the experimental results for the surface
roughness and tool life and corresponding S/N ratios using
Eqs. 2 and 3. The mean S/N ratio for each level of the other
machining parameters was calculated in a similar manner
and the results are shown in Tables 5 and 6, respectively.
Additionally, the total mean S/N ratio is computed by
averaging the total S/N ratios. Based on the data presented
in Table 5, the optimal machining performance for the
surface roughness was obtained at 90 m/min cutting speed
(Level 3), 0.15 mm/rev feed rate (Level 1), and 0.5 mm
depth of cut (Level 1) settings. Figure 2 presents plots of the
S/N ratio for the three control parameters A, B, and C,
studied at three levels for the surface roughness. The S/N
ratio corresponds to the smaller variance of the output
characteristics around the desired value. Figure 3 shows the
comparison of the predicted and actual and residual and
actual S/N ratios for the surface roughness using regression
analysis. Most of the points are close to the line and the
deviations are very small and negligible. With respect to the
coefficient of multiple determinations (R
2
) of the fitted
model (Fig. 3), also known as R
2
-statistics, the value
obtained for the surface roughness is 0.92. This means that
the model as fitted explains 92% of the variability of surface
roughness. The equation of this model proposed for the
surface roughness by the variables of cutting speed, feed
rate, and axial depth of cut parameters is shown in Eq. 4:
R
a
3:1955V 4:2311 10
5
f 20703:7302 a
4:2334 10
5
V f 20826:5222V a
6:0964 10
5
f a
4
On the other hand, the estimated response surfaces of R
a
,
as a function of the factors of cutting speed and feed rate
Table 4 Experimental design using the L
9
orthogonal array and
experimental results
Exp.
no.
A B C Surface
roughness
(m)
Tool
life
(s)
S/N ratio
for surface
roughness
S/N
ratio for
tool life
1 1 1 1 1.198 2458 5.6570 67.8116
2 1 2 2 3.365 2176 10.5397 66.7532
3 1 3 3 11.428 1531 21.1594 63.6995
4 2 1 2 2.785 742 8.8965 57.4081
5 2 2 3 5.136 670 14.2125 56.5215
6 2 3 1 8.634 360 18.7242 51.1261
7 3 1 3 4.900 893 13.8039 59.0170
8 3 2 1 2.131 200 6.5717 46.0206
9 3 3 2 4.416 344 12.9006 50.7312
Table 5 Response table mean signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for surface
roughness factor and significant interaction
Symbol Cutting
parameter
Mean S/N ratio
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 max
min
A Cutting speed 12.452 13.944 11.092
a
1.36
B Feed rate 9.452
a
10.441 17.595 8.143
C Depth of cut 10.318
a
10.779 16.392 6.074
Total mean S/N ratio= 12.496
a
Optimum level
Table 6 Response table mean S/N ratio for tool life factor and
significant interaction
Symbol Cutting parameter Mean S/N ratio
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 max
min
A Cutting speed 0
a
19.561 22.656 22.656
B Feed rate 10.333
a
20.294 21.540 11.207
C Depth of cut 20.646 17.334 14.437
a
6.209
Total mean S/N ratio= 57.676
a
Optimum level
898 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903
and cutting speed and axial depth of cut, with the other
factors held constant at their central values, are shown in
Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the
surface roughness has a tendency of increasing when both
feed rate and axial depth of cut factors are increased within
the work interval considered for this study. There is no
significant change observed due to the cutting speed. But,
especially at the end of a tools life, the surface finish
became rougher. This is probably due to deformation on the
flank face or adherence of workpiece material at the tool
nose. Figure 6 shows a typical side view of the cutting tool.
The chip can be observed welded on the surface of the
cutting tool and covering the cutting edge (BUE).
FromTable 6, the optimal machining performance for tool
life was obtained at 30 m/min cutting speed (Level 1),
0.15 mm/rev feed rate (Level 1), and 2 mm depth of cut
(Level 3) settings. The mean S/N ratio graph for tool life is
shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 8, the actual and predicted S/N ratios
and residual and predicted S/N ratios for tool life were
compared using regression analysis. Here, the R
2
of the
model is 0.96. The equation of this model proposed for the
tool life is shown in Eq. 5:
tool life 151:5023V 2:2852 10
7
f 4:105
10
6
a 2:2812 10
7
V f
4:2013 10
6
V a 4:9128
10
7
f a 5
In Figs. 9 and 10, the estimated response surface of tool
life as a function of cutting speed and feed rate and as a
function of cutting speed and axial depth of cut, respec-
tively, are depicted. Under constant axial depth of cut and
feed rate conditions, an increase in cutting speed leads to a
sharpen decrease in tool life. This phenomenon can be
attributed to the very high chemical reactivity of titanium
alloy and a very high temperature occurring close to the
cutting edge as a result of plastic deformation under
compressive stress during machining [10].
Fig. 2 Mean signal-to-noise
(S/N) ratio graph for surface
roughness
Fig. 3 Comparison of actual
and predicted and residual and
predicted S/N ratios of surface
roughness using regression
analysis
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903 899
3.2 Analysis of variance
The purpose of the statistical analysis of variance
(ANOVA) is to investigate which design parameter signif-
icantly affects the surface roughness and tool life. Based on
the ANOVA, the relative importance of the machining
parameters with respect to surface roughness and tool life
was investigated to determine more accurately the optimum
combination of the machining parameters. The analysis is
carried out for the level of significance of 1% (the level of
confidence is 99%) [11, 12]. Tables 7 and 8 show the
results of the ANOVA analysis for the machining outputs,
respectively. The last columns of Tables 7 and 8 indicate
the percentage contribution of each factor on the total
variation, indicating their degree of influence on the results.
The greater the percentage contribution, the greater the
influence a factor has on the performance. According to
Table 7, the feed rate was found to be the major factor
affecting the surface roughness (54.50%), whereas the axial
depth of cut and cutting speed factors affect the surface
roughness by 31.57% and 5.62%, respectively. The change
of cutting speed in the range given in Table 3 has an
insignificant effect on the surface roughness. Table 8 shows
the results of the ANOVA for tool life. It can be found that
the cutting speed is the most significant cutting parameter
for affecting tool life (73.69%). The feed rate affects the
tool life by 14.42%. The axial depth of cut has an
insignificant effect on tool life (7.91%).
3.3 Confirmation tests
The purpose of the confirmation test is to validate conclusions
drawn during the analysis phase [13]. Once the optimal level
of the process parameters is selected, the final step is to
predict and verify the improvement of the performance
characteristics using the optimal level of the process
parameters. The predicted S/N ratio
^
using the optimal
level of the process parameters can be calculated as [7, 9]:
^

m

X
q
i1
j

m

6
where h
m
is the mean of the S/N ratio,
i
is the mean of the
S/N ratio at the optimal level, and q is the number of
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
V (m/min)
f (mm/rev)
R
a
(

m
)
Fig. 4 Estimated response surface of R
a
vs. V and f
12
10
8
6
4
2
V (m/min)
a (mm)
R
a

(

m
)
Fig. 5 Estimated response surface of R
a
vs. V and a
Fig. 6 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the cutting tool
showing the built up edge (BUE) after machining Ti-6Al-4 V alloy
(V=60 m/min, a=1 mm, f=0.25 mm/rev)
900 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903
Fig. 7 Mean S/N ratio graph for
tool life
Fig. 8 Comparison of actual
and predicted and residual and
predicted S/N ratios of tool life
using regression analysis
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
f (mm/rev)
V (m/min)
T
o
o
l

l
i
f
e

(
s
)
Fig. 9 Estimated response surface of tool life vs. V and f
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
V (m/min)
a (mm)
T
o
o
l

l
i
f
e

(
s
)
Fig. 10 Estimated response surface of tool life vs. V and a
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903 901
Table 8 Results of ANOVA
for tool life
Machining
parameter
Degrees of freedom Sum of squares Mean square F ratio Contribution (%)
Cutting speed 2 332.770 166.385 71.104 73.69
Feed rate 2 65.129 32.564 13.916 14.42
Depth of cut 2 35.720 17.860 7.632 7.91
Error 2 4.680 2.340 3.99
Total 8 438.299 100
Table 7 Results of analysis of
variance (ANOVA) for surface
roughness
Machining
parameter
Degrees of freedom Sum of squares Mean square F ratio Contribution (%)
Cutting speed 2 12.2 6.1 2.606 5.62
Feed rate 2 118.4 54.2 23.162 54.50
Depth of cut 2 68.6 34.3 14.658 31.57
Error 2 4.680 2.340 8.31
Total 8 203.88 100
Table 9 Results of the confir-
mation experiment for surface
roughness
Initial cutting parameters Optimal cutting parameters
Prediction Experiment
Level A2B2C2 A3B1C1 A3B1C1
Surface roughness (m) 4.215 1.726
S/N ratio (dB) 12.4960 5.2200 4.7408
Improvement os S/N ratio 7.7552
Table 10 Results of the con-
firmation experiment for tool
life
Initial cutting parameters Optimal cutting parameters
Prediction Experiment
Level A2B2C2 A1B1C3 A1B1C3
Surface roughness (m) 520 1,746
S/N ratio (dB) 54.3201 68.8079 64.8409
Improvement of S/N ratio 10.520
902 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2008) 38:896903
process parameters that significantly affect the perfor-
mance characteristics.
Table 9 shows the results of the confirmation experiments
using the optimal machining parameters for surface rough-
ness. The increase of S/N ratio from the initial machining
parameters to the level of optimal machining parameters is
7.755 dB. The surface roughness is decreased by 2.44 times.
So, the surface roughness is greatly improved by using the
approach adopted in this paper. Table 10 shows the results of
the confirmation experiments using the optimal machining
parameters for tool life. The improvement of S/N ratio from
the initial machining parameters to the optimal machining
parameters is 10.520 dB. The tool life is increased by 3.35
times. From the confirmation tests, good agreement between
the predicted machining performance and the actual machin-
ing performance were observed. Additionally, the experi-
mental results confirmed the validity of the applied Taguchi
method for enhancing the machining performance and the
optimizing the turning parameters. The surface roughness
and tool life are greatly improved by using the approach.
4 Conclusion
In this study, an investigation on the surface roughness and
tool life based on the parameter design of the Taguchi
method in the optimization of turning operations has been
investigated and presented. Summarizing the mean exper-
imental results of this study, the following generalized
conclusions can be drawn:
1. Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results, the
highly effective parameters on both the surface roughness
and tool life were determined. Namely, the feed rate
parameter is the main factor that has the highest
importance on the surface roughness and this factor is
about 1.72 times more important than the second ranking
factor (depth of cut). The cutting speed does not seem to
have much of an influence on the surface roughness.
2. The tool life is affected strongly by the cutting speed
(73.69%), whereas the feed rate and depth of cut have a
significant statistical influence.
3. Based on the signal-to noise ratio results in Tables 5
and 6, we can conclude that the A3B1C1 (V=90 m/min,
f=0.15 mm/rev, a=0.5 mm) and A1B1C3 (V=30 m/min,
f=0.15 mm/rev, a=2 mm) settings are the optimal
machining parameters for surface roughness and tool
life, respectively.
4. The improvement of the surface roughness from the
initial machining parameters to the optimal machining
parameters is about 244%, whereas the tool life is
improved by 335%.
5. The regression results showed that the deviations
between the actual and predicted S/N ratios of both
surface roughness and tool life are small for each
parameter.
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