SAN ANTONIO — November 4, 2024 —Southwest Research Institute has received two contracts totaling $23 million from the U.S. Air Force for a program to address aging aircraft structures and material degradation. Under these contracts, the Institute will help the Air Force modernize methods to sustain the T-38 Talon, the A-10 Thunderbolt and the B-52 Stratofortress. All three military aircraft first came into service more than 45 years ago.

Due to the absence of structural defects such as grain boundaries and dislocations in bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), they exhibit outstanding mechanical properties. However, this also poses challenges for their machining. Although numerous studies have explored the impact of cutting parameters on their machining characteristics, there is a scarcity of research that investigates the influence of tool corner radius on cutting characteristics through examining chip geometrical characteristics. It is essential to fill this research gap.