How To Machine Magnesium?
Magnesium has been utilized in manufacturing notebook pc frames, video cameras, digital cameras, PDAs and other customer electronics items since of its high strength to weight ratio. When magnesium is alloyed with aluminum, the resultant material is extremely light and sturdy, and simply machinable.
The main concern in machining magnesium alloy is the danger of fire ignition when dry cutting. Fire could occur when the melting point of the alloy (400-600 degrees Celsius) is exceeded during machining. The small chips and fine dust generated throughout cutting are also extremely flammable and pose a significant fire risk if not properly handled.
There are a number of points to note when machining magnesium:
Firstly, use a lower cutting speed when compared to cutting aluminum. The workpiece temperature goes up with an improve in cutting speed and also smaller undeformed chip thickness. In other words, the slower the machining speed and the bigger the chips, the lower the workpiece temperature will be. Due to this purpose, some companies have modified woodworking tools for machining magnesium so as to attain larger chips and lower fire hazard.The cutting tools employed really should have relief and clearance angles that are sufficiently significant to avert unnecessary cutting tool-workpiece friction, as a result lowering the heat generated in the course of the cutting procedure.
Second, preserve the machining center clean. Cleaning the machining centers regularly and storing the magnesium chips properly are essential elements of machining magnesium. Hold a container of cast iron chips close to by when machining magnesium, If fire happens, smother the fire with the cast iron chips.
Thirdly, if coolants are necessary for high speed machining, do not use water-based lubricants. Rather use a light mineral oil, or a water-soluble cutting fluid such as Castrol Hysol MG specially formulated for machining magnesium. Some businesses in Japan use semi-dry machining via a misting program.
The fourth point is to monitor the workpiece temperature in the course of machining. Experiments were carried out making use of thermocouples mounted into the workpiece to monitor the workpiece temperature for the duration of machine. Dry cutting of magnesium alloy thin walls was achieved using cutting speed of 440m/min for roughing and 628m/min for fine finishing.
Despite the fire hazards, as competitors from overseas low-expense production bases intensifies, and magnesium becomes increasingly employed in electronics goods, most machining job shops could quite nicely discover machining of magnesium a niche worth pursuing.
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