The machining of milled parts from MMC is our supreme discipline

Milled parts and turned/milled parts made of aluminium, titanium or magnesium are light, but often do not meet the requirements for resistance to mechanical, thermal or tribological stress. For this reason, metal matrix composites are increasingly being used, especially in the automotive and aerospace industries, in which a structure consisting of a metallic alloy – usually aluminium – is reinforced with fibres, particles or foams. However, the reinforcing component made of metallic, ceramic or carbon-based fibres and particles is also the reason for the difficult machinability of metal matrix composites. Depending on the composition of the metal matrix, the particle size and geometry as well as the grain size of the cutting material, the very hard reinforcement components can cause a wide variety of wear phenomena on the tool. Furthermore, during machining, meticulous care must be taken to ensure that the topography of the workpiece surface remains intact, i.e., that no micro-fractures, pores, deformations or adhesions occur.

Metal matrix composites can only be machined with special, mostly diamond-coated tools. Thanks to many years of experience and close cooperation with tool suppliers, machine manufacturers and research institutes, the manufacturing experts at Ziegler are very familiar with the properties and behaviour of materials and tools in the machining process. The setting of machining parameters such as feed rate, cutting depth and cutting speed is matched to the respective composite material. We can therefore process components made of MMC economically and, above all, with the required accuracy.