Design of neural network-based estimator for tool wear modeling in hard turning

Hard turning with cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools has been proven to be more effective and efficient than traditional grinding operations in machining hardened steels. However, rapid tool wear is still one of the major hurdles affecting the wide implementation of hard turning in industry. Better prediction of the CBN tool wear progression helps to optimize cutting conditions and/or tool geometry to reduce tool wear, which further helps to make hard turning a viable technology. The objective of this study is to design a novel but simple neural network-based generalized optimal estimator for CBN tool wear prediction in hard turning. The proposed estimator is based on a fully forward connected neural network with cutting conditions and machining time as the inputs and tool flank wear as the output. Extended Kalman filter algorithm is utilized as the network training algorithm to speed up the learning convergence. Network neuron connection is optimized using a destructive optimization algorithm. Besides performance comparisons with the CBN tool wear measurements in hard turning, the proposed tool wear estimator is also evaluated against a multilayer perceptron neural network modeling approach and/or an analytical modeling approach, and it has been proven to be faster, more accurate, and more robust. Although this neural network-based estimator is designed for CBN tool wear modeling in this study, it is expected to be applicable to other tool wear modeling applications.     

Cutting tool wear estimation for turning

The experimental investigation on cutting tool wear and a model for tool wear estimation is reported in this paper. The changes in the values of cutting forces, vibrations and acoustic emissions with cutting tool wear are recoded and analyzed. On the basis of experimental results a model is developed for tool wear estimation in turning operations using Adaptive Neuro fuzzy Inference system (ANFIS). Acoustic emission (Ring down count), vibrations (acceleration) and cutting forces along with time have been used to formulate model. This model is capable of estimating the wear rate of the cutting tool. The wear estimation results obtained by the model are compared with the practical results and are presented. The model performed quite satisfactory results with the actual and predicted tool wear values. The model can also be used for estimating tool wear on-line but the accuracy of the model depends upon the proper training and section of data points.     

Modelling machining processes with a view to their optimization and to the adaptive control of metal cutting machine tools

This paper describes an orthogonal machining theory which can be used to determine the stresses, temperatures etc. involved in chip formation from a knowledge of the work material flow stress and thermal properties and cutting conditions. It is shown how these can be used to predict machinability factors such as power consumption, built-up edge range, tool wear rates (tool life) and those cutting conditions which cause plastic deformation of the cutting edge. An oblique machining theory which is more representative of practical machining processes than the orthogonal theory is then described, taking into account machining on more than one cutting edge as in bar turning. Throughout the paper comparisons are made between predicted and experimental results.     

Comparing orthogonal force and unidirectional strain component processing for tool condition monitoring

Signal processing using orthogonal cutting force components for tool condition monitoring has established itself in literature. In the application of single axis strain sensors however a linear combination of cutting force components has to be processed in order to monitor tool wear. This situation may arise when a single axis piezoelectric actuator is simultaneously used as an actuator and a sensor, e.g. its vibration control feedback signal exploited for monitoring purposes. The current paper therefore compares processing of a linear combination of cutting force components to the reference case of processing orthogonal components. Reconstruction of the dynamic force acting at the tool tip from signals obtained during measurements using a strain gauge instrumented tool holder in a turning process is described. An application of this dynamic force signal was simulated on a filter-model of that tool holder that would carry a self-sensing actuator. For comparison of the orthogonal and unidirectional force component tool wear monitoring strategies the same time-delay neural network structure has been applied. Wear-sensitive features are determined by wavelet packet analysis to provide information for tool wear estimation. The probability of a difference less than 5 percentage points between the flank wear estimation errors of above mentioned two processing strategies is at least 95 %. This suggests the viability of simultaneous monitoring and control by using a self-sensing actuator.     

Tool wear modeling in rotary turning modified by ultrasonic vibration

Modification of conventional turning operation is carried out by using different methods to improve machinability conditions. In this study, rotary turning is modified by adding ultrasonic vibrations to cutting tool. Accordingly, the effect of this method on output parameters namely, tool wear and temperature, cutting force, and surface roughness, is investigated. Having detailed analysis, finite element method is used beside the experiments. As a result, it was revealed that tool-chip engagement time during rotary motion of cutting tool significantly reduced wear propagation on tool faces. This was explained by heat analysis in which disengagement time resulted in lower heat transfer from chip to tool. Moreover, the result of surface roughness produced in vibratory-rotary turning was compared by rotary one.     

Condition monitoring of CNC machining using adaptive control

In this work, an adaptive control constraint system has been developed for computer numerical control (CNC) turning based on the feedback control and adaptive control/self-tuning control. In an adaptive controlled system, the signals from the online measurement have to be processed and fed back to the machine tool controller to adjust the cutting parameters so that the machining can be stopped once a certain threshold is crossed. The main focus of the present work is to develop a reliable adaptive control system, and the objective of the control system is to control the cutting parameters and maintain the displacement and tool flank wear under constraint valves for a particular workpiece and tool combination as per ISO standard. Using Matlab Simulink, the digital adaption of the cutting parameters for experiment has confirmed the efficiency of the adaptively controlled condition monitoring system, which is reflected in different machining processes at varying machining conditions. This work describes the state of the art of the adaptive control constraint (ACC) machining systems for turning. AISI4140 steel of 150 BHN hardness is used as the workpiece material, and carbide inserts are used as cutting tool material throughout the experiment. With the developed approach, it is possible to predict the tool condition pretty accurately, if the feed and surface roughness are measured at identical conditions. As part of the present research work, the relationship between displacement due to vibration, cutting force, flank wear, and surface roughness has been examined.     

An advanced numerical approach on tool wear simulation for tool and process design in metal cutting

Tool wear is an important criterion in metal cutting affecting part quality, chip formation and the economics of the cutting process. In order to account for tool wear adequately in tool and process design, simulation tools predicting tool wear in metal cutting processes are required. Within this paper, an advanced simulation approach is presented, coupling FE simulations of chip formation with a user-defined subroutine which extends the functionalities of the commercial FE code for wear simulation laying the focus on the development of this method. The continuous process of wearing is discretized in finite steps and the wear rate is modelled to be constant between. Based on the Usui wear rate equation, the local thermo-mechanical load obtained by FE simulation is transformed into local wear rates. The geometric representation of the wear progress is implemented via shifting of the finite element nodes of the engaged tool domain. A novel iterative procedure of updating the tool geometry in order to account for the wear progress is presented.     

Tool condition monitoring using artificial intelligence methods

This paper describes an application of three artificial intelligence (AI) methods to estimate tool wear in lathe turning. The first two are “conventional” AI methods—the feed forward back propagation neural network and the fuzzy decision support system. The third is a new artificial neural network based-fuzzy inference system with moving consequents in if–then rules. Tool wear estimation is based on the measurement of cutting force components. This paper discusses a comparison of usability of these methods in practice.     

人工神经网络预测刀具磨损和切削力

刀具磨损和切削力预测与控制是切削加工过程中需要考虑的重要问题.本文介绍了利用人工神经网络模型预测刀具磨损和切削力的步骤并且针对产生误差的因素进行分析.首先将切削速度、切削深度、切削时间、主轴转速和不同频带的能量值通过归一化法处理,作为输入特征值,对改进的神经网络模型进行训练.然后利用训练完成的神经网络模型预测刀具磨损和切削力.结果表明:神经网络模型能够综合考虑加工过程中更多的影响因素,与经验公式结果对比,具有更高的预测精度.研究结果表明神经网络模型预测刀具磨损和切削力具有可行性和准确性,为刀具结构的优化及加工参数的选择提供了依据.     

Tool wear monitoring and selection of optimum cutting conditions with progressive tool wear effect and input uncertainties

One of the big challenges in machining is replacing the cutting tool at the right time. Carrying on the process with a dull tool may degrade the product quality. However, it may be unnecessary to change the cutting tool if it is still capable of continuing the cutting operation. Both of these cases could increase the production cost. Therefore, an effective tool condition monitoring system may reduce production cost and increase productivity. This paper presents a neural network based sensor fusion model for a tool wear monitoring system in turning operations. A wavelet packet tree approach was used for the analysis of the acquired signals, namely cutting strains in tool holder and motor current, and the extraction of wear-sensitive features. Once a list of possible features had been extracted, the dimension of the input feature space was reduced using principal component analysis. Novel strategies, such as the robustness of the developed ANN models against uncertainty in the input data, and the integration of the monitoring information to an optimization system in order to utilize the progressive tool wear information for selecting the optimum cutting conditions, are proposed and validated in manual turning operations. The approach is simple and flexible enough for online implementation.     

Machining of aerospace titanium alloys

The performance of PCBN (AMBORITE*) and PCD (SYNDITE) has been compared with that of coated tungsten carbide tool currently being used to machine titanium aerospace alloy. Tests confirm that SYNDITE gives a better surface finish, longer tool life and more manageable swarf than other tools. In addition, the “quick-stop” technique establishes that, for all three cutting tools, a layer is formed between the rake face and the underside of the emerging chip which has a fundamental effect on cutting and wear mechanisms.     

Control of tolerances in turning by predictive control with neural networks

Stochastic and non-deterministic influences have an effect on cutting processes and lead to an unsteady and dynamic process behaviour. Concepts for the improvement of process reliability and for the control of tolerances have to be developed in order to fulfil the increasing requirements on product quality. A concept for the improvement of manufacturing accuracy through artificial neural networks (ANN) will be presented as an example for the turning process. This ANN model makes it possible to predict the dimensional deviation caused by tool wear. Feeding this back in an open loop within the machine controller the deviation can be compensated by using an adaptive control of the depth of cut.     

Tool condition monitoring in interrupted cutting with acceleration sensors

Tool breakage is a serious issue in conditions with highly variable stress such as interrupted turning. The tool may fail suddenly though commonly tool failure is preceded by other symptoms such as chipping or fracture of tool edges and tool wear before the complete failure. These symptoms can be used to predict reliably complete tool failure. In the case of a complete failure, the surface integrity of the workpiece is commonly ruined causing waste, making the individual events one of the most expensive failures in small series and flexible manufacturing in addition to collisions. In earlier studies, tool wear has been monitored by force sensors. There are also methods for estimating cutting force with acceleration sensors. In this study, it is demonstrated that it is possible to estimate tool deflection, connected to main cutting force, with acceleration sensor and use this information for detecting the chipping and small fracture of the tool edge. The method presented in this study can be used as a predictor for complete tool failure and thus prevent waste.     

Online tool wear prediction system in the turning process using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system

Tool wear is a detrimental factor that affects the quality and tolerance of machined parts. Having an accurate prediction of tool wear is important for machining industries to maintain the machined surface quality and can consequently reduce inspection costs and increase productivity. Online and real-time tool wear prediction is possible due to developments in sensor technology. Recently, various sensors and methods have been proposed for the development of tool wear monitoring systems. In this study, an online tool wear monitoring system was proposed using a strain gauge-type sensor due to its simplicity and low cost. A model, based on the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and a new statistical signal analysis method, the I-kaz method, were used to predict tool wear during a turning process. In order to develop the ANFIS model, the cutting speed, depth of cut, feed rate and I-kaz coefficient from the signals of each turning process were taken as inputs, and the flank wear value for the cutting edge was an output of the model. It was found that the prediction usually accurate if the correlation of coefficients and the average errors were in the range of 0.989–0.995 and 2.30–5.08% respectively for the developed model. The proposed model is efficient and low-cost which can be used in the machining industry for online prediction of the cutting tool wear progression, but the accuracy of the model depends upon the training and testing data.     

TSK fuzzy modeling for tool wear condition in turning processes: An experimental study

This paper presents an experimental study for turning process in machining by using Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy modeling to accomplish the integration of multi-sensor information and tool wear information. It generates fuzzy rules directly from the input-output data acquired from sensors, and provides high accuracy and high reliability of the tool wear prediction over a wide range of cutting conditions. The experimental results show its effectiveness and satisfactory comparisons relative to other artificial intelligence methods.     

Flank wear detection of cutting tool inserts in turning operation: application of nonlinear time series analysis

It has been established that turning process on a lathe exhibits low dimensional chaos. This study reports the results of nonlinear time series analysis applied to sensor signals captured real time. The purpose of this chaos analysis is to differentiate three levels of flank wears on cutting tool inserts—fresh, partially worn and fully worn—utilizing the single value index extracted from the reconstructed chaotic attractor; the correlation dimension. The analysis reveals distinguishable dynamics of cutting characterized by different values for the dimension of the attractor when different quality tool inserts are used. This dependence can be effectively utilized as one of the indicators in tool condition monitoring in a lathe. This paper presents the experimental results and shows that tool vibration signals can transmit tool wear conditions reliably.     

Tool wear monitoring using neuro-fuzzy techniques: a comparative study in a turning process

Tool wear detection is a key issue for tool condition monitoring. The maximization of useful tool life is frequently related with the optimization of machining processes. This paper presents two model-based approaches for tool wear monitoring on the basis of neuro-fuzzy techniques. The use of a neuro-fuzzy hybridization to design a tool wear monitoring system is aiming at exploiting the synergy of neural networks and fuzzy logic, by combining human reasoning with learning and connectionist structure. The turning process that is a well-known machining process is selected for this case study. A four-input (i.e., time, cutting forces, vibrations and acoustic emissions signals) single-output (tool wear rate) model is designed and implemented on the basis of three neuro-fuzzy approaches (inductive, transductive and evolving neuro-fuzzy systems). The tool wear model is then used for monitoring the turning process. The comparative study demonstrates that the transductive neuro-fuzzy model provides better error-based performance indices for detecting tool wear than the inductive neuro-fuzzy model and than the evolving neuro-fuzzy model.     

Tool condition classification using Hidden Markov Model based on fractal analysis of machined surface textures

The texture of a machined surface generated by a cutting tool, with geometrically well-defined cutting edges, carries essential information regarding the extent of tool wear. There is a strong relationship between the degree of wear of the cutting tool and the geometry imparted by the tool on to the workpiece surface. The monitoring of a tool’s condition in production environments can easily be accomplished by analyzing the surface texture and how it is altered by a cutting edge experiencing progressive wear and micro-fractures. This paper discusses our work which involves fractal analysis of the texture of surfaces that have been subjected to machining operations. Two characteristics of the texture, high directionality and self-affinity, are dealt with by extracting the fractal features from images of surfaces machined with tools with different levels of tool wear. The Hidden Markov Model is used to classify the various states of tool wear. In this paper, we show that fractal features are closely related to tool condition and HMM-based analysis provides reliable means of tool condition prediction.     

Hybrid multiobjective optimization algorithm based on multivariate mean square error and fuzzy decision maker

This work presents the turning process of AISI H13 hardened steel with the PCBN 7025 tool, considering six output variables: tool life, machining total cost, surface roughness, machining force, sound pressure level, and specific cutting energy. Several problems are encountered in engineering processes that have adverse effects on the reliability of complex engineering systems. Hence, the aim of this work is to optimize the hardened steel turning process by applying mathematical methods to reduce dimensionality and eliminate the correlation between the multiple responses. The resultant latent response surfaces and their respective targets constitute the normalized multivariate mean square error (MMSE) function that is minimized by the normal boundary intersection (NBI) method. Furthermore, a fuzzy algorithm is applied to identify the best solution from several feasible solutions of the Pareto frontier that is compared with the performances of normalized normal constraint, arc homotopy length, global criterion method, and desirability method. The results show that NBI-MMSE has a higher performance than the other methods. In addition, NBI-MMSE is tested with benchmark functions to evaluate its effectiveness and robustness. Therefore, NBI-MMSE identifies the dynamics of the turning process of AISI H13 steel by revealing the optimal solutions for the input process parameters.     

基于图像连通区域数的刀具磨损状态特征提取实验研究

为了利用计算机视觉技术进行刀具状态监测,设计了机械加工刀具状态监测实验系统,并通过将图像处理技术引入到机械加工刀具磨损状态监测中,提出了一种通过提取工件表面图像的连通区域数来判断刀具磨损状态的新方法。该方法首先采集被加工工件的表面图像;然后对图像进行预处理,并对区域行程算法进行了改进,再用改进的区域行程标记算法对机械加工工件表面图像进行标记;最后通过统计连通区域数来判断刀具的磨损状态。理论和实验分析表明,由于加工工件表面图像的连通区域数和刀具磨损有很强的相关性,其可以间接判断刀具磨损情况,从而可达到对刀具状态进行监测的目的。实验表明,该方法计算简单、识别速度快,可以有效地判断刀具的磨损状态。