High-Speed Milling of Hardened AMS 6260 Alloy Using Radius End Mill (Effect of Cutting Conditions on Flank Wear and Surface Roughness)

AMS 6260 alloy is a nickel-chromium-molybdenum steel containing Ni, Cr, Mo, with Fe as the main component, and is one of AMS (aerospace materials specifications) in the United States. This material has high hardenability and high toughness. For this reason, it is used as a material for parts that require high toughness, such as gears in aircraft engines. However, while AMS 6260 alloy after heat-treatment has high hardness, it significantly reduced machinability. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to achieve high efficiency and high accuracy in the cutting process of AMS 6260 after heat-treatment. In this paper, the experimental milling of the hardened AMS 6260 alloy after heat-treatment is conducted under some cutting conditions using a coated cemented carbide radius end mill, and the effect of cutting conditions on the flank wear and surface roughness is investigated. As a result, optimal cutting conditions on the tool wear and surface roughness were clarified.