Alloy Ti-6Al-4V is a frequently used material in aero space applications due the high strength and low weight. This material is however often considered as a difficult to machine alloy due to several material properties such as the inherent characteristics of high hot hardness and strength which is causing an increased deformation of the cutting tool during machining. The thermal properties also cause a low thermal diffusion from locally high temperatures in the cutting zone that allows for reaction to the tool material resulting in increased tool wear.

Predicting the behavior of machining of this alloy is therefore essential when selecting machining tools or machining strategies. If the surface integrity is predicted, the influence of different machining parameters could be studied using Particle Finite Element (PFEM)-simulations. In this investigation the influence from cutting speed and feed during turning on the residual stresses has been measured using x-ray diffraction and compared to PFEM-simulations.

The results showed that cutting speed and feed have great impact on the residual stress state. The measured cutting force showed a strong correlation especially to the cutting feed. The microstructure, observed in SEM, showed highly deformed grains at the surface from the impact of the turning operation and the full width half maximum from the XDR measurements distinguish a clear impact from different cutting speed and feed which differed most for the higher feed rate.

The experimental measurements of the residual stresses and the PFEM simulations did however not correlate. The surface stresses as well as the sign of the residuals stresses differed which might be due to the material model used and the assumption of using a Coulomb friction model that might not represent the cutting conditions in the investigated case.