Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and Initial Workpiece Temperature in Dry Milling on Energy Consumption, Hardness Variation, and Corrosion Rate of AA6061 Aluminum Alloy

Pourhoseini, Seyed Hadi; Teimouri, Mohammad Javad; Sedehi, Sayyed Mohammad Reza; Baghban, Mojtaba

doi:10.30501/acp.2026.582016.1196

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Tool Rotational Speed and Initial Workpiece Temperature in Dry Milling on Energy Consumption, Hardness Variation, and Corrosion Rate of AA6061 Aluminum Alloy

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Seyed Hadi Pourhoseini ¹

Mohammad Javad Teimouri ¹

Sayyed Mohammad Reza Sedehi ²

Mojtaba Baghban ¹

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Gonabad, Gonabad, Iran

² School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.30501/acp.2026.582016.1196

Abstract

In this study, the interactive effects of tool rotational speed and the initial workpiece temperature on energy consumption, hardness evolution, and surface corrosion rate of Aluminum Alloy 6061 during the milling process were experimentally investigated. The experiments were conducted under different ranges of tool rotational speeds and initial temperatures, and the energy consumption of each machining path was directly extracted from the spindle power consumption. The results revealed that the process energy consumption was strongly dependent on thermo-kinetic conditions, and by increasing the tool rotational speed and initial temperature, a nonlinear behavior was observed, characterized by an initial decrease followed by a subsequent increase in energy consumption. Accordingly, the minimum energy consumption was recorded within the range of 100–120 J, whereas the maximum values reached approximately 170–190 J. The evaluation of Vickers Hardness along the machining path demonstrated that increasing the input energy led to an enhancement in surface hardness up to an optimal level; however, under severe thermo-mechanical loading conditions, a slight reduction in hardness was observed. Furthermore, X-ray Diffraction analysis confirmed a reduction in crystallite size accompanied by an increase in lattice strain in the samples machined under higher energy conditions. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that the targeted control of energy consumption through the simultaneous adjustment of machining parameters plays a critical role in optimizing surface hardness and microstructural evolution in Aluminum Alloy 6061.

Keywords

Milling

Aluminum

Corrosion

Hardness

Temperature

Tool Rotational Speed

Subjects