Statistical characterisation of end milling of AISI 52100 annealed bearing steel

. The present paper is a contribution in characterising end milling process of AISI 52100 ball bearing steel through statistical analyses of variance (ANOVA). The latter has been performed to identify the effect of the cutting parameters on the machined surface roughness and the cutting tool life. Wear measurements have been carried on multilayer coated carbide inserts and the respective surface roughness has been recorded. Taguchi’s technique has been adapted to conduct the design experiments in terms of orthogonal arrays according to the cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut), the type of coating (TiN, TiCN, TiAlN) and lubricating condition. Regression analyses have conducted to the development of simplified empirical models that can be effectively used to predict surface roughness and tool wear in the present milling process.