Study on Variable Parameter Helical Milling of TC4 Titanium Alloy Tube

Titanium alloy was widely used in various tubing systems due to the excellent performance, and tubes were usually used as a connection channel for conveying media with holes. However, the stability and dependability of media transmission in the tubing system would be directly impacted by the quality of the holes. This study primarily focused on TC4 titanium alloy tubes to investigate variable parameter helical milling holes to enhance the quality of tube connection holes. The finite element method simulation and response surface method were used to examine the relationship between each process parameter and the accuracy of the holes. Thus, a better combination of process parameters was projected. And based on this, a variable parameter hole-making scheme was proposed to lower the burrs at the entrance and exit of holes and enhance the quality of the wall of holes. The results showed that the aperture of 5.015 mm after processing the titanium alloy tube using the better process parameters met the requirements of H8. Additionally, the burrs at the hole entrance were 1.4 μm, the burrs at the hole exit were not noticeable, and the surface roughness Rz and Ra were 1.459 μm and 0.232 μm, respectively, met the requirements of process technology. The variable parameter helical milling technique used in this study could significantly raise the quality of holes produced in titanium alloy tubes and serve as a valuable benchmark for tubes of other materials.