Effect of copper addition at a rate of 4% weight on the machininability of ZA-21A1 cast alloy by CNC milling

Little work is published on the effect of copper addition to zinc-aluminium ZA-21Al alloy on its surface quality machined by milling. In this paper, the effect of copper addition at a rate 4 % weight to the ZA-21Al alloy on its hardness and surface quality is investigated. It was found that the addition of 4% Cu resulted in 18.3% enhancement in microhardness whereas the mechanical characteristics were reduced (softening) about 14.5% at 0.2% strain. It was found that the best surface finish for this alloy before copper addition ZA21 was achieved at a feed rate of 100 mm/min and 1.25 mm depth of cut whereas the best surface finish for ZA21-4% Cu was achieved at feed rate 250 mm/min, 1600 rpm cutting velocity and 1.25 mm depth of cut.