As a high-performance fastener, titanium alloy bolts are widely used in aerospace, military industry, chemical industry and other fields. However, due to its unique material properties, titanium alloy bolts are difficult to process. The following is a detailed description of the difficulties in titanium alloy bolt processing:
Poor thermal conductivity
The thermal conductivity of titanium alloy is only about 1/7 of that of steel, which makes it difficult to dissipate heat during processing. This characteristic brings the following difficulties:
1. Increased tool wear: Since heat is not easy to dissipate, the temperature of the contact area between the tool and the workpiece increases, which increases tool wear and reduces tool life.
2. Poor surface quality of machining: Heat accumulation causes defects such as burns and oxidation on the machining surface, affecting the surface quality and service life of the bolts.
3. Reduced machining efficiency: In order to prevent the tool from overheating, the cutting speed and feed rate need to be reduced during the machining process, which affects the machining efficiency.
Low elastic modulus
The elastic modulus of titanium alloy is about 1/2 of that of steel, which leads to the following problems during processing:
1. Deformation is difficult to control: Low elastic modulus makes titanium alloy bolts easy to deform during processing, affecting dimensional accuracy and shape accuracy.
2. Difficult clamping: Low elastic modulus makes bolts easy to deform during clamping, resulting in unstable clamping and affecting processing quality.
High chemical activity
Titanium alloys are prone to chemical reactions with oxygen, nitrogen and other gases in the air at high temperatures to form hard compounds, which brings the following processing difficulties:
1. Increased tool wear: Hard compounds produced by chemical reactions increase tool wear and reduce tool life.
2. Poor surface quality: The formation of hard compounds may cause defects such as burrs and cracks on the surface of the machine.
High cutting force
The cutting force of titanium alloy is about 1.5 times that of steel, leading to the following problems:
1. Increased machine tool load: High cutting force requires high rigidity of the machine tool, otherwise it is easy to cause machine tool vibration and affect processing quality.
2. Reduced tool life: Large cutting force aggravates tool wear and reduces tool life.
High surface hardness
The surface hardness of titanium alloy is relatively high, and the following problems are prone to occur during processing:
1. Built-up edge: Built-up edge is easily generated during processing, affecting the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the processing.
2. Increased tool wear: High hardness makes the tool wear faster during processing, reducing tool life.
High processing cost
Due to the above difficulties, the processing cost of titanium alloy bolts is relatively high, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1. Tool cost: Titanium alloy processing requires the use of special tools, and the tool price is relatively high.
2. Machine tool requirements: Processing titanium alloy bolts requires high rigidity and high-precision machine tools, and the equipment investment is large.
3. Long processing cycle: Due to the difficulty of processing and low processing efficiency, the processing cycle of titanium alloy bolts is long.
4. Inspection and adjustment: Frequent inspection and adjustment are required during the processing to ensure product quality and increase labor costs.
In summary, the difficulties in processing titanium alloy bolts are mainly reflected in poor thermal conductivity, low elastic modulus, high chemical activity, large cutting force, high surface hardness and high processing cost. To overcome these difficulties, it is necessary to adopt reasonable processing technology, select special tools and equipment, and strengthen process control to improve the processing quality and production efficiency of titanium alloy bolts.
