Fractal Characterization of Relative Machinability of Ferrous Materials

The surface morphology after machining has fractal characteristics. This paper attempts to establish the relationship between fractal parameters and the relative machinability of ferrous metal materials. Four kinds of common ferrous metals were selected for turning under the same machining parameters and the corresponding surface topography was obtained by OLYMPUS DX110 ultra-depth microscope. Afterwards the fractal parameters were calculated based on the fractal theory and MATLAB. Finally, the relationship between fractal dimension D and relative machinability Kr was analysed. The results indicated that with the increase of fractal dimension D, the relative machinability Kr shows an increasing trend and the mathematical relationship between them was established, which could provide a theoretical basis for improving the machinability of work-piece materials. (paper)