Machining strategy in five-axis milling using balance of the transversal cutting force

Several solutions can be considered to resolve the problem of positioning a cutting tool on a free-form surface when five-axis milling. To choose a unique solution, in addition to the cutter–workpiece contact, an additional criterion can be taken into account. This may concern the local geometry of the surface or yet again the width milled to maximise the metal removal rate, but technological criteria relating to the cutting phenomenon and the quality of the surface produced are not considered. The present article introduces a strategy applying positioning combined with balancing of the transversal cutting force. This method involves using the ploughing effect of the milling cutters by simultaneously engaging the teeth located to the front of the cutter in relation to the feed movement and also those to the rear. The positioning obtained stabilises the cutter and contributes to making a net improvement in its dynamic behaviour. This leads in turn to significantly higher quality of the milled surface. The article presents a method to apply balancing of the transversal cutting force to two types of machining passes and elaborates an associated strategy to plan cutter paths enabling an improvement in surface quality to be achieved.     

球头铣刀加工倾角对切削力的影响

对球头铣刀刀具轴线和工件加工表面之间的加工倾角进行了理论研究,建立了加工曲面时刀具倾角的数学模型,并通过试验研究了高速铣削铝合金时刀具倾角对切削力的影响规律。随着刀具轴线相对于进给方向倾斜角度β的增大,切削力变化的趋势是减小;编制多轴数控加工程序时可以通过设置合理的刀具倾角来改善切削条件。     

Dynamic behaviour improvement for a torus milling cutter using balance of the transversal cutting force

This article deals with five-axis machining of free-form surfaces with torus cutters and round inserts. An orientation of the tool axis to make a dynamic tool behaviour as stable as possible is presented in this work. With this new method an improvement of 50% on different roughness criteria can be obtained. For that, tool axis inclination will be towards the back of the tool compared to the feed direction that will allows to all inserts to machine simultaneously. The global cutting phenomenon is then continuous and it is thus possible to find a tool axis inclination that decreases its vibrations. It will be shown that this calculated tool axis inclination allows on the one hand to reduce the transversal tool deflections and in the other hand to stabilize the dynamic tool behaviour. A better quality on the finished workpiece is then obtained.     

Theoretical modelling of cutting forces in helical end milling with cutter runout

A theoretical cutting force model for helical end milling with cutter runout is developed using a predictive machining theory, which predicts cutting forces from the input data of workpiece material properties, tool geometry and cutting conditions. In the model, a helical end milling cutter is discretized into a number of slices along the cutter axis to account for the helix angle effect. The cutting action for a tooth segment in the first slice is modelled as oblique cutting with end cutting edge effect and tool nose radius effect, whereas the cutting actions of other slices are modelled as oblique cutting without end cutting edge effect and tool nose radius effect. The influence of cutter runout on chip load is considered based on the true tooth trajectories. The total cutting force is the sum of the forces at all the cutting slices of the cutter. The model is verified with experimental milling tests.     

A force-model-based approach to estimating cutter axis offset in ball end milling

Cutter runout due to cutter axis offset is quite common in a milling process, yet it is difficult to directly measure the runout geometry of a ball end cutter during the cutting process. This paper presents an analytical method for the estimation of cutter radial offset via forces in ball end milling. Closed form expression for the total milling force in the presence of cutter offset is first obtained. Fourier series coefficients for the offset related force component are shown to be expressed explicitly in terms of the offset geometry and serve as the basis for the identification of the offset geometry from the measured cutting forces. The offset geometry including its magnitude and the phase angle are directly calculated from the measured force component at the spindle frequency through two algebraic expressions. The identification method is finally validated by milling experiments.     

Balancing the transverse cutting force during inclined milling and effect on tool wear: application to Ti6Al4V

The present article studies the effect on cutter wear of balancing transverse cutting forces during inclined milling applied to a titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V). Indeed, this method is advantageous as it helps reduce vibrations as also the amplitude of such forces thanks to balancing. These observations provide the means to enhance cutting conditions and thus boost productivity when roughing. The method was first validated on Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. A model was then proposed to estimate the maximum axial cutting force at angular positions 0 and p. A wear test was then conducted and notching, flaking and flank types of wear were observed as being most representative. Roughness measurements were made throughout the wear test as also measurements of cutting forces with a new cutter and the worn cutter to provide a comparison. The cutting forces remained acceptable and the roughness values measured remained below the criteria generally retained for roughing. The improvements obtained in terms of extended tool life when using this method were extremely significant since under the same cutting conditions flat milling gave a lifetime of 2.03 min while when machining with balancing of the transverse cutting forces this was extended to 23.6 min.     

自滚切刀具切削力试验研究

简介了自滚切刀具的基本概念,分析了切削过程中的切削力,对自滚切端铣刀的切削力进行了试验研究,得出了切削力与刀具刃倾角、刀片直径及切削速度之间的关系。试验结果表明,刃倾角对自滚切刀具的合理使用最为重要,各切削分力随刃倾角不同的变化规律源于刀刃工作前后角的变化;较小的刀片直径有利于减小切削力,使切削过程更加平稳;自滚切刀具特别适合于高速切削,较普通刀具切削速度可提高50%以上。     

不等齿距端铣刀对端铣振动影响的研究

根据切削理论及端铣过程的几何关系 ,提出了单齿和多齿端铣刀的铣削力模型 ,用有限元分析软件分析了铣床的频谱 ;分析了不等齿距端铣刀的铣削力频谱 ,并在此基础上分析了不等齿距端铣刀的减振机理 ,提出了不等齿距端铣刀齿间角优化设计的依据 ,设计和制造了不等齿距端铣刀 ,并对不等齿距端铣刀和等齿距端铣刀的振动性能进行了对比实验     

枞树型轮槽精铣刀热—力耦合场分析

以汽轮机转子轮槽加工中枞树型轮槽精铣刀的热变形为研究对象,对刀具切削过程中受力、受热进行分析计算。采用ANSYS作为有限元分析软件平台,通过建立精铣刀的有限元模型和加载计算,模拟实际切削中刀具的热变形。研究结果在一定程度上实现了对精铣刀热变形的定量计算,为进一步的机夹式轮槽精铣刀结构设计及刀片重构奠定了良好的研究基础。     

A new method for cutting force prediction in peripheral milling of complex curved surface

The instantaneous uncut chip thickness and entry/exit angle of tool/workpiece engagement vary with tool path, workpiece geometry and cutting parameters in peripheral milling of complex curved surface, leading to the strong time-varying characteristic for instantaneous cutting forces. A new method for cutting force prediction in peripheral milling of complex curved surface is proposed in this paper. Considering the tool path, cutter runout, tool type(constant/nonconstant pitch cutter) and tool actual motion, a representation model of instantaneous uncut chip thickness and entry/exit angle of tool/ workpiece engagement is established firstly, which can reach better accuracy than the traditional models. Then, an approach for identifying of cutter runout parameters and calibrating of specific cutting force coefficients is presented. Finally, peripheral milling experiments are carried out with two types of tool, and the results indicate that the predicted cutting forces are highly consistent with the experimental values in the aspect of variation tendency and amplitude.     

脆性材料微铣削理论及微铣削力模型研究

从脆性材料塑性域铣削机理和特点出发,建立了微径球头铣刀几何模型,改进了瞬时切厚模型,利用合理的切削力微元模型建立了脆性材料铣削瞬时的铣削力解析模型;以石英玻璃为工件材料,基于改进的实验平台进行球头铣刀微铣削试验,并获取了铣削力实验数据,回归出了所建模型中的切削力系数。利用试验对模型进行验证分析,结果表明所建模型具有良好的适用性。     

Cutting force prediction for ball nose milling of inclined surface

Ball nose milling of complex surfaces is common in the die/mould and aerospace industries. A significant influential factor in complex surface machining by ball nose milling for part accuracy and tool life is the cutting force. There has been little research on cutting force model for ball nose milling on inclined planes. Using such a model ,and by considering the inclination of the tangential plane at the point of contact of the ball nose model, it is possible to predict the cutting force at the particular cutting contact point of the ball nose cutter on a sculptured surface. Hence, this paper presents a cutting force model for ball nose milling on inclined planes for given cutting conditions assuming a fresh or sharp cutter. The development of the cutting force model involves the determination of two associated coefficients: cutting and edge coefficients for a given tool and workpiece combination. A method is proposed for the determination of the coefficients using the inclined plane milling data. The geometry for chip thickness is considered based on inclined surface machining with overlapping of previous pass. The average and maximum cutting forces are considered. These two forces have been observed to be more dominating force-based parameters or features with high correlation with tool wear. The developed cutting force model is verified for various cutting conditions.     

基于刀具跳动的环形铣刀切削厚度模型的切削力计算

数控铣削过程中,切削变形引起的瞬时切削厚度是影响铣削加工切削力建模的重要参数之一,针对环形铣刀的切削特点,在考虑刀具跳动的情况下,对真实刀刃轨迹运动进行分析。将微细铣削的加工过程用宏观铣削来表示,从而建立了基于宏观铣削过程中刀具跳动下精密加工的瞬时切削厚度。通过仿真模拟和切削力试验来预测切削力,预测结果和试验结果具有一致性,表明该模型可以更好的预测加工过程中的切削力。     

Implementation of analytical boundary simulation method for cutting force prediction model in five-axis milling

A simulation system was developed that deals with cut geometry and machining forces when a toroidal cutter is used during semifinishing in five-axis milling. The cut geometry was calculated using an analytical method called analytical boundary simulation (ABS). ABS was implemented to calculate the cut geometry when the machining used an inclination angle and a screw angle. The effect of tool orientation on the cut geometry was analyzed. The accuracy of the proposed method was verified by comparing the cut lengths calculated using ABS with cuts obtained experimentally. The result indicated that the method was accurate. ABS was subsequently applied to support a cutting force prediction model. A validation test showed that there was a good agreement with the cutting force generated experimentally.     

Selection of the Machining Inclination Angle in High-Speed Ball End Milling

High-speed machining is a key issue for current die and mould manufacturing. Though this technology has great potential for high productivity, tool wear accelerated by high cutting speeds and hard materials is a barrier. In this work, we attempted to reduce tool wear by controlling the machining inclination angle between the tool and the workpiece. To do this, the range of cutting angles engaged in the cutting using a ball end cutter is obtained from the boundary lines describing machined sculptured surfaces represented by the cutting envelop condition and the geometric relationships of successive tool paths. Then, the chip cross-sectional area and chip length can be obtained from the calculated cutting edge and the rotational engagement angle. The simulation results showed that a machining inclination angle of 15° was good enough from the point view of machineability, and this value was verified by a cutting experiment using high-speed ball end milling.     

自由曲面的五坐标端铣加工研究

针对自由曲面的五坐标端铣加工，建立了平底刀有效切削轮廓的数学模型，分析了刀具姿态对有效切削轮廓及加工效率的影响。沿行距方向，通过对被加工曲面法截线的偏置曲线与有效切削轮廓求交，得到一种走刀行距的计算方法。探讨了影响走刀行距的因素，在不发生干涉的前提下，小的后跟角和侧偏角有利于加工行距的提高。结合平底刀加工不发生过切的充要条件和被加工曲面沿行距方向的法曲率，给出了后跟角的自动计算方法。算例表明，所提出的走刀行距及刀具倾角的计算方法合理可行，能够有效提高计算精度和加工效率。     

Feedrate optimisation/scheduling on sculptured surface machining: a comprehensive review, applications and future directions

Free-form or sculptured surface milling is one of the continually used manufacturing processes for die/mould, aerospace (especially turbine blades), precision machine design, bio-medical devices and automotive industries. Developments of machining technologies for quality enhancement of machining results have become a very important fact in current real industry. Therefore, reducing milling time, tool wear, cutter deflection and improving surface texture quality and machining operations through adaptation and optimisation of tool feedrates based on changing surface geometry in sculptured surface machining is a great step in this direction. Various feedrate optimisation strategies have different feedrate rescheduling control parameters such as chip thickness, material removal rate (MRR), min(mrr,chip,force), max(expo.Acc/dec) and resultant forces. Some commercial CAM softwares come with MRR-based feedrate optimisation algorithms which have a very short calculation time. However, commercial feedrate scheduling systems have some limitations in generating the scheduled feedrates because they use the MRR or the cutting force model which is dependent on milling conditions. However, for the processes in which machining precision/accuracy is very important, it is inevitable that mechanistic force-based feedrate optimisation approaches, for which the calculation time is improved, will be integrated into commercial CAM software packages. Here, developing only the mechanistic cutting force-based algorithm is not enough. In this paper, improvement and optimisation of machining feedrate value, which is one of the cutting parameters which has a tremendous effect on the precise machining of free-form surfaces, was discussed by using the virtual machining framework. For this purpose, the boundary representation solid modelling technique-based free-form milling simulation and feedrate optimisation system integrated with commercial CAD/CAM software is developed for three-axis ball-end milling. This review study includes the information regarding the following topics: The algorithms developed for the feedrate value optimisation, MRR calculation approaches, cutting force computation methods, details of algorithms, the effects on the surface accuracy, the effects on the machining time, the capabilities of the present commercial CAM software packages, the encountered difficulties and overcoming those difficulties, recent developments and future research directions.     

端铣刀切入过程应力场有限元分析

断续切削中脆性刀具易在切入工件的初始阶段发生破损.文中采用有限元软件DEFORM,对端铣刀在不同切削参数条件下切削碳素钢的切入过程进行仿真,以确定铣刀切入过程所受的载荷;然后分析切削参数对刀具应力的影响,确定切入过程刀具的应力变化及分布,为建立合理的铣刀切入破损预测模型提供参考.     

Prediction of tool breakage in face milling using support vector machine

A new approach is proposed using a support vector machine (SVM) to classify the feature of the cutting force signal for the prediction of tool breakage in face milling. The cutting force signal is compressed by averaging the cutting force signals per tooth to extract the feature of the cutting force signal due to tool breakage. With the SVM learning process, the output of SVM’s decision function can be utilized to identify a milling cutter with or without tool breakage. Experimental results are presented to verify the feasibility of this tool breakage prediction system in milling operations.     

Three dimensional cutting force analysis in end milling

The analysis of cutting forces plays an important part in the design of machine tool systems as well as in the planning, optimization, and control of machining processes. This paper presents a three-dimensional model of cutting forces in peripheral end milling in terms of material properties, cutting parameters, machining configuration, and tool/work geometry. Based on the relationship of the local cutting force and the chip load, the total cutting force model is established via the angle domain convolution integration of the local forces in the feed, cross feed, and axial directions. The integration is taken along the cutter axis and summarized across the cutting flutes. The convolution integral leads to a periodic function of cutting forces in the angle domain and an explicit expression of the dynamic cutting force components in the frequency domain. The closed-form nature of the expressions allows the prediction and optimization of cutting forces to be performed without the need of numerical iterations. To assess the fidelity of the analytical model, experimental data from end milling tests are presented in the context of three dimensional time waveforms, power spectra, and phase angles, in comparison to the values predicted by the model.