Original paper(Vol.53 No.4 pp.376)

Machinability of the Smoke-Heat Treated Sugi

Chiaki TANAKA, Shigeo NAKAYAMA, Atsushi KABE, Shizuyoshi AOYAMA, Lao XUEQUN, and Tadashi OHTANI

Abstract:The smoke-heat treating of Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D.Don) is receiving attention these days because it improves the quality of Sugi and it is as effective as the traditional method of drying. The cutting force, tool wear, and cutting noise level of the smoke-heat treated Sugi was investigated to determine the effects of its improved quality on machining properties. The results obtained in this paper were as follows: 1) The cutting force in the cutting direction was smaller for the smoke-heat treated Sugi than for the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. It decreased with increasing cutting speeds for both the smoke-heat treated and the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. 2) The cutting force in the feed direction was almost equal under feed speeds investigated for the smoke-heat treated and the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. 3) The resultant cutting force calculated by the sum of the cutting forces in the cutting and feed directions was smaller for the smoke-heat treated Sugi than for the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. This tendency was more evident for higher moisture content. 4) The amount of tool wear was smaller for the smoke-heat treated Sugi than for the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. 5) Difference in cutting noise level was not observed for the smoke-heat treated and the non smoke-heat treated Sugi. However, the cutting noise level was reduced with increase in moisture content for the smoke-heat treated and the non smoke-heat treated Sugi due to the reduction in the sound pressure level of higher frequency ranges.

Key Words:Smoke-heat treated Sugi, Cutting force in cutting direction ,Cutting force in feed direction, Tool wear, Cutting noise level