Machinability and surface integrity investigation during helical hole milling in AZ31 magnesium alloy

Conventional drilling has been widely used for making holes in structural materials. However, drawbacks like high cutting forces, poor surface finish, temperatures, excessive tool wear, and undesirable burr formation while magnesium alloys have necessitated the development of alternative hole-making methods. Lately, helical milling process attracted interest facilitating assembly applications. machinability using needs more investigation. Therefore, presented work analyzed influence axial pitch, tangential feed, spindle speed on forces integrity AZ31 alloy. Axial feed was most crucial factor contributing to thrust force (71.8%), followed by (13.2%). All three variables impacted radial force. Spindle influential variable affecting roughness (48.7%), pitch (31.4%) (12.5%). Microhardness closer free hole higher than subsurface hardness. Moreover, microhardness showed an upward trend with rise feed; however, it reduced increased speed.