Abstract 

The aim of this work was the evaluation of the machinability of leaded brass namely CuZn39Pb3 (CW614N) in comparison to three lead-free brasses alloys namely CuZn42 (CW510L), CuZn38As (CW511L), and CuZn36 (C27450). The machinability of the studied alloys was investigated, based on chip morphology and power consumption, as quality characteristics. Microstructure examination and hardness testing was employed for the characterization of the selected alloys. Design of experiments (DOE) was employed in a multi-non-parametric study in order to identify the critical-to-machinability parameters and obtain their optimum values for high performance machining. The attempted joint screening using a four-level orthogonal array revealed that the depth of cut and the alloy type were the two statistically predominant effects. The chip morphology and the power consumption in a balanced concurrent optimization effort were optimal when the depth of cut was set at 0.5 mm for the alloy type CW614N chip morphology optimization. The optimal chip morphology response was split in equal chances to produce needle or arc chips. The predicted power consumption was confined in a range of values with an upper boundary at 65 W. The findings of the statistical evaluation were experimentally confirmed, validating the DOE approach.