A Novel Low Cost Approach to Milling Titanium Firewalls/Bulkheads

Titanium is one of the more difficult metals to machine economically because of it's combination of high cutting strength, low thermal conductivity and tendancy to react chemically with the carbide cutting tools. The proposed machining approach side steps these material problems by using abrasive waterjets to perform controlled-depth milling. Waterjets are commonly used to cut through titanium and other materials but milling to a controlled depth is a new process that holds great promise for high material removal rates and very low-cost production. The process is applicable to wide range of alloys and geometry and the goal of the proposed work is to demonstrate that it can be economically applied to the V-22 firewall/bulheads.