Surface Roughness and Wettability Variation: The effect of Cutting Distance during Milling of Pinus Radiata Wood

The variation of the machined surface properties is usually described in terms of changes in cutting parameters. However, the effect of the cutting distance should be considered, as it further shows the influence of the cutting tool wear. In order to assess the effect of the cutting distance on roughness and wettability of Pinus radiata wood surfaces, three conditions of feed speed and cutting speed were applied on cutting distance of 0 to 10000 meters. This study describes the effect of machining parameters on the behavior of roughness and wettability through the cutting distance, and the interaction of both surface properties is also discussed. The variation of surface roughness in function of the cutting distance is not directly related to variations in the surface wettability. It was, therefore, concluded that is was not reliable to consider only the surface roughness to explain the wetting behavior of a heterogeneous surface such as wood.