Studies on epoxy granite material For use in machine tool structures

Abstract

Conventionally cast iron is the material used in machine tool newlineStructures due to its excellent mechanical and thermal characteristics in the newlineclass of metallic materials However it is observed that these structures are newlinesubjected to self excited vibrations known as chattering during machining newlineoperations This causes positional error between the tool and the work piece newlineaffecting the accuracy of machine tool Hence a study of alternate materials newlinethat can improve the damping characteristics of the structure is significant newlineThe main objective of the present research work is to study the use newlineof epoxy granite as an alternate material for cast iron structures Test newlinespecimens using epoxy resin and granite aggregate were fabricated newlineMechanical and thermal characteristics of these test specimens were studied newlineby varying the resin content in the mixture newlineFrom the studies on test specimens a mixture with better newlinecharacteristics was arrived at With this combination of epoxy resin and newlinegranite, a lathe bed having equal stiffness as that of cast iron micro lathe bed newlinewas fabricated The dynamic characteristics dimensional stability surface newlineroughness and wear characteristics of the fabricated epoxy granite lathe bed newlinewere studied newline newline