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Abstract
This paper presents a study of the Taguchi design application to optimize surface quality in a CNC face milling operation. Maintaining good
surface quality usually involves additional manufacturing cost or loss of productivity. The Taguchi design is an efficient and effective experimental
method in which a response variable can be optimized, given various control and noise factors, using fewer resources than a factorial design. This
study included feed rate, spindle speed and depth of cut as control factors, and the noise factors were the operating chamber temperature and the
usage of different tool inserts in the same specification, which introduced tool condition and dimensional variability. An orthogonal array of L9 (34 )
was used; ANOVA analyses were carried out to identify the significant factors affecting surface roughness, and the optimal cutting combination
was determined by seeking the best surface roughness (response) and signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, confirmation tests verified that the Taguchi
design was successful in optimizing milling parameters for surface roughness.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction is a repetitive and empirical process that can be very time con-
suming. The dynamic nature and widespread usage of milling
1.1. Background operations in practice have raised a need for seeking a systematic
approach that can help to set-up milling operations in a timely
As a basic machining process, milling is one of the most manner and also to help achieve the desired surface roughness
widely used metal removal processes in industry and milled sur- quality.
faces are largely used to mate with other parts in die, aerospace,
automotive, and machinery design as well as in manufactur- 1.2. Background of Taguchi design
ing industries [1,2]. Surface roughness is an important measure
of the technological quality of a product and a factor that One method presented in this study is an experimental design
greatly influences manufacturing cost. The mechanism behind process called the Taguchi design method. Taguchi design,
the formation of surface roughness is very dynamic, compli- developed by Dr. Genichi Taguchi, is a set of methodologies by
cated, and process dependent; it is very difficult to calculate its which the inherent variability of materials and manufacturing
value through theoretical analysis [3]. Therefore, machine oper- processes has been taken into account at the design stage.
ators usually use trial and error approaches to set-up milling The application of this technique had become widespread in
machine cutting conditions in order to achieve the desired sur- many US and European industries after the 1980s. The beauty
face roughness. Obviously, the trial and error method is not of Taguchi design is that multiple factors can be considered
effective and efficient and the achievement of a desirable value at once. Moreover, it seeks nominal design points that are
insensitive to variations in production and user environments
to improve the yield in manufacturing and the reliability in
Corresponding author at: 37 ITC, Cedar Falls, IA 50613 0178, USA.
performance of a product [4]. Therefore, not only can controlled
Tel.: +1 319 273 2590; fax: +1 319 273 5818. factors be considered, but also noise factors. Although similar to
E-mail address: julie.zhang@uni.edu (J.Z. Zhang). design of experiment (DOE), the Taguchi design only conducts
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2006.11.029
234 J.Z. Zhang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 184 (2007) 233239
Table 1 as indicated in Table 1. The addition of noise factors is optional, and requires
The basic Taguchi L9 (34 ) orthogonal array that each run should be conducted once for each combination of noise factors.
However, this study did not use all the array cells for four factors, because
Run Control factors and levels
only three factors were considered (spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut).
A B C D Therefore, the last column (for the fourth factor) in the L9 (34 ) orthogonal array
is left empty for this specific study.
1 1 1 1 1 The selected parameters, as discussed in the introduction, are listed in Table 2
2 1 2 2 2 along with their applicable codes and values for use in the Taguchi parameter
3 1 3 3 3 design study. The control and noise factors are independent variables, and the
4 2 1 2 3 response variable is the dependent variable.
5 2 2 3 1 The control factors are the basic controlled parameters used in a milling oper-
6 2 3 1 2 ation. The spindle speeds and depth of cut were selected from within the range
7 3 1 3 2 of parameters for finishing and semi-finishing milling of aluminum. The feed
8 3 2 1 3 rates were slightly lower than normally used for milling aluminum workpieces,
9 3 3 2 1 in consideration of safety concerns.
The noise factors listed in Table 2 are variables often uncontrolled in machine
shops, which may affect the surface roughness of a milling operation mentioned
cutting fluids, and related research may be conducted in the earlier. The temperature ranges included both a normal (6575 F/18.323.9 C)
future. and a high (95100 F/3537.8 C) shop temperature range. The normal range
includes a range of common temperatures based on what heating and air con-
ditioning systems are usually set for, or normal room temperature. The high
2. Purpose of study temperature range is what a machine shop without air conditioning in some
areas would expect during the summer. The second noise factor is the use of
The Taguchi parameter design stage is the primary design either good inserts or inserts with light tool wear, which introduces a variable
applied in the study, and the purpose of this study is to effi- common to all machine shops. The light tool wear on the inserts was created
by lightly grinding the cutting edge with a small abrasive grinder. The light
ciently determine the optimal face milling parameters to achieve
tool wear here means no crater wear on the insert surfaces, some friction marks
the smallest surface roughness value for aluminum parts under indicating slight flank wear.
varying conditions. The questions that this study will address A modified orthogonal array in Table 3 was created using the basic Taguchi
include the following: orthogonal array and the selected parameters from Table 2. In this array, the
basic array with the control factors are shown as the inner control factor array,
and the added noise factors are shown in the outer noise array. Since all nine
What are the relationships between the controllable factors
cutting conditions specified in the array come with four combinations of noise
(in the study: spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut) and factors (normal temperature with no tool wear, normal temperature with light
the response factor (surface roughness)? tool wear, high temperature with no tool wear, and high temperature with light
How do the noise factors (temperature and tool wear) affect tool wear), it brings the total number of runs to 36 for the experiment.
the response factor?
What are the optimal conditions of the milling parameters for 3.2. Experimental set-up and procedure
surface roughness?
After the orthogonal array has been selected, the second step in Taguchi
What are the optimal conditions for the two noise factors?
parameter design (see Fig. 1) is running the experiment. This experiment was
conducted using the hardware listed as follows:
3. Experimental design
CNC Mill: Fadal VMC-40 vertical machining center.
3.1. Orthogonal array and experimental factors Surface roughness measurement device: Federal Pocketsurf Stylus Profilome-
ter (measures Ra in in.; stylus travel 0.1 in./2.54 mm).
Following the procedure described in Fig. 1, the first step in the Taguchi Space heater: 1500 W Honeywell Quick Heat Ceramic Heater (small forced-
method is to select a proper orthogonal array. The standardized Taguchi-based air space heater with thermostat with thermal protection devices for safety).
experimental design, a L9 (34 ) orthogonal array described in Peace [4], was used Thermometer: Taylor digital thermometer #1420 (digital thermometer with
in this study and is shown in Table 1. This basic design makes use of up to four probe, range includes 50120 F/1048.9 C) (Taylor Instruments).
control factors, with three levels each. A total of nine experimental runs must Cutting tool inserts: APKT 160408R coated carbide inserts (Ingersoll Cutting
be conducted, using the combination of levels for each control factor (AD) Tools).
Table 2
Parameters, codes, and level values used for orthogonal array
Parameter Code Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Control factors
Spindle speed, rpm A 1500 2500 3500
Feed rate, ipm (mmpm) B 20 (508) 30 (762) 40 (1016)
Depth of cut, in (mm) C 0.060 (1.52) 0.080 (2.03) 0.100 (2.54)
Noise factors
Tool wear X None Light wear
Temperature range, F ( C) Y 6575 (18.323.9) 95100 (3537.8)
Response variable
Surface roughness, Ra (in.)
236 J.Z. Zhang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 184 (2007) 233239
Table 3
Completed orthogonal array
Outer noise array
X 1 1 2 2
Y 1 2 1 2
A B C
R
a effects
Level 1 67.08 46.26 46.71
Level 2 44.34 45.46 51.93
Level 3 42.58 62.29 55.38
A B C
effects
Level 1 36.57 34.05 33.64
Level 2 33.38 33.31 34.82
Level 3 33.32 35.92 34.82
Tool holder: Fadal VNE90-1250C 3-insert mill with 1.25 in. (31.75 mm) cut Table 3, along with the additional parameters of the expanded
diameter (for above inserts). orthogonal array. The individual surface roughness measure-
Surface table: polished granite surface for more stable and accurate surface
ments are noted as N1N4 for each run in the array. A final
roughness measurements.
Microsoft Excel and JMP software packages for charting data and statistical column has been added to this array, to indicate the signal-to-
analysis. noise (S/N) ratio, which is calculated as follows:
The 36 experiments were cut in a random sequence to better eliminate any 1
= 10 log ( yi2 ) (1)
other invisible factors that might also contribute to the surface roughness. The n
high temperature was created through heating up the air inside the machine
chamber by the heater to the defined temperature and maintaining the tempera-
where is the S/N ratio, yi the individual surface roughness
ture 5 min. The light tool wear on the inserts was created by lightly grinding the
cutting edge with a small abrasive grinder. It is hard to control the degree of tool measurements in columns N1N4, n the number of combined
wear when grinding the inserts. A microscope was used to observe and measure noise factors; in this case, n = 4.
the flank wears on the inserts to control the wear situation of the three inserts Also added to this array are the standard deviation (s),
as similar as possible. Because the difficulty still existed due to the researchers variance (s2 ), and the mean (R a ) of the surface roughness mea-
inability to reproduce the exactly same tool wear situation, tool wear was con-
surements, which are used to verify the performance of the
sidered a noise factor in this study. A simple NC program was written with
different cutting conditions specified to have the Fadal machine face mill the top calculated S/N ratio. This type of experiment, in which a smaller
surface of 3/4 1 1/2 3 in. (19.1 38.1 76.2 mm) aluminum blocks. After response variable is desirable, should produce S/N ratios that
each cut, the surface roughness was measured on the surface table with the stylus increase as the variance and means decrease.
profilometer. Three fixed spots on each milled surface, one in the middle and
the other two on the edge, were used to measure the surface roughness of the
cut, and the mean of the three readings was recorded in the orthogonal array. A
diagram of measurement points were shown in Fig. 2.
Table 4 Table 6
T-test for effect on surface roughness of alternating between two sets of inserts ANOVA analysis for the effect of feed rate on surface finish
with different wear
Source d.f. Sum of square Mean square F ratio Prob > b
No wear Light wear
Sp 2 2169.367 1084.68 2.0575 0.1439
Mean 38.80556 63.86667 Error 33 17397.155 527.19
Variance 206.0629 611.4612 Cumulative total 35 19566.522
Observations 18 18
d.f. 17
t stat 4.51184
t critical one-tail 1.739607
P(T t) one-tail 0.000154
Fig. 6. R
a and S/N ratio effects for each control factor.
J.Z. Zhang et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 184 (2007) 233239 239