Surface roughness and chip morphology of wood-plastic composites manufactured via high-speed milling

Abstract

Wood-plastic composites have attracted extensive attention throughout the world because of their advantages. However, the manufacturing mechanism of the wood-plastic composites, i.e., high-speed milling technology, is not perfect and needs further study. The effects of the cutting parameters, i.e., the spindle speed, feed rate, axial milling depth, and radial milling depth, on the surface roughness and chip morphology were studied; the surface roughness values, R-a and R-z of high-speed milling wood-plastic composites samples were measured via high precision surface roughness measuring instrument, and their regression equations were calculated. The chips produced via a high-speed milling process were collected and studied. The results showed that the surface roughness of the wood-plastic composites increases with an increase in the axial depth, feed rate, or radial depth, but decreases with an increase in the spindle speed. In addition, the axial milling depth, feed rate, and spindle speed had a significant effect on the morphology of the chips. However, the effect of the radial milling depth on the morphology of the chips was not obvious. The results can provide a scientific basis for the optimization of high-speed milling processing of wood-plastic composites.