Machining and simulation studies of bimetallic pistons

Abstract

Light aluminium alloy piston is suitably reinforced at high load-bearing region with cast iron insert, and machining of such bimetallic material is more difficult with a single cutting tool material. Present study focuses on the orthogonal cutting of bimetallic material machining using cubic boron nitride as a cutting tool through finite element analysis. The effects of cutting parameters such as cutting velocity, feed rate and depth of cut on resultant cutting forces and the surface roughness were analysed. Those parameters yielding minimum cutting forces were identified as minimal cutting force parameters, so numerical simulation and experiments were carried out on these parameters. After machining, the intermediate bonding between metallic regions was studied using ultrasonic testing. Bimetallic machining is successfully simulated, and its potential is readily applied to an industrially important component.