Experimental investigation for optimizing the fabrication of a sapphire capillary using femtosecond laser machining and diamond tool micromilling

Sapphire capillaries manufactured with high efficiency and precision are needed for use in laser–plasma accelerators. A hybrid manufacturing process combining femtosecond laser machining and diamond tool micromilling was applied. By using a femtosecond laser mounted on a 5-axis machine, a capillary with a groove width of 630 µm and length of 90 mm was fabricated on a sapphire plate within 5 h. The surface roughness of the bottom of the cylinder groove was finished to 7.1 nm in Sa by milling with a polycrystalline diamond end mill.     

Digital manufacture of large-grade hydro turbine's blades

The blade is one of the vital components and the most difficulty in manufacturing of large hydro turbines. In order to cost-effectively and productively manufacture these kinds of blades, a series of innovative digital techniques have been developed. It includes the digital design of hydro turbine blades based on manufacturers’ requirements, computer-aided location and the machined error evaluation with three-dimensional digitized measure, tool path generation strategy for enhancing machining efficiency and controlling deviation in NC machining, tool path generation and NC machining simulation by means of a virtual NC machining environment for blades, and feasible strategy and the systematic scheme for manufacturing of large blades with 5-axis simultaneous CNC machining technology. The developed innovative digital manufacture techniques have been successfully applied in the manufacturing of both the large grade Kaplan and Francis hydraulic turbine blades. It has been shown that the higher efficiency and the better surfaces finish accuracy can be achieved in practical engineering.     

A unified framework of error evaluation and adjustment in machining

Errors of machine tool, fixture, and datum on workpiece to be machined influence the machining accuracy of the workpiece. The objective of this paper is to provide a framework for abstracting an error model that integrates three types of errors, i.e., machine tool, fixture, and datum errors, into a unified one. Differential motion theory is used to build the evaluation model of three types of errors. The resultant deviation model of the tool with respect to the workpiece is derived by using the model. For the purpose of eliminating the deviation, the resultant geometric variation is mapped into the locator errors on the fixture. Then the position and orientation errors of the tool with respect to the workpiece may be reduced by adjusting the length of locators. Finally, the effectiveness of the resultant deviation model is verified by examples.     

Statistical analysis of the effects of machining parameters and workpiece hardness on the surface finish of machined medium carbon steel

The objective of this study is to ascertain the effect of machining parameters and workpiece hardness on surface roughness of machined components and to develop a better understanding of the effect of process parameters on the machined surface. Such an understanding can provide insight into the problems of controlling the finish of machined surfaces when the process parameters are adjusted to obtain a certain surface finish. The collected data were analyzed using parametric analyses of variance (ANOVA) with surface finish as the dependent variable and hardness of the workpiece material, cutting tool position from the surface of the clamping device (chuck), depth of cut, cutting velocity, and cutting feed as independent variables. The results showed that surface roughness is significantly affected by the workpiece hardness, cutting feed, cutting speed, depth of cut, cutting tool position from the chuck, and their interactions with each other. The results suggest that feed rate and cutting speed can be adjusted to produce a certain surface finish when the position of the cutting tool from the surface of a clamping device or the hardness of the workpiece is changed.     

Generation of a regularly aligned surface pattern and control of cutter marks array by patch division milling

In this paper, a patch division milling technique that can generate a geometric surface pattern by means of a ball-end mill on a surface is proposed. The finished surface is divided into many same-size small patch segments such as triangles, quadrilaterals, or hexagons. The whole inside area of each patch is machined along a helical tool path with a high feed rate. A geometric surface pattern is generated by the cutting edges of the ball-end mill within the patch area, and after the machining of a series of patches, the machined surface is covered with many patches. It is shown that the aligned state of the cutter marks array on the patch can be controlled by the cross-feed, the feed speed per tooth, the number of teeth and the side length of the patch. A simulator was also developed to predict the aligned state of the cutter marks array in the patch. Comparing the machining on the patch division milling between an inclined flat surface and a cylindrical surface, the regularly aligned surface pattern and cutter marks array were found to agree well with the simulation results. The objective of this research is to establish the cutting method of generating regularly aligned surface pattern on the complex-shaped workpiece efficiently. If the surface pattern on the complex-shaped workpiece could be formed only by the ball-end milling with a machining center, it will be a very effective tool for the machinery industry.     

A study of the diamond tool wear suppression mechanism in vibration-assisted machining of steel

Inability of machining steel strongly inhibits the application of diamond machining in manufacturing industry, especially in the fields of ultra-precision and micro machining. In recent years, vibration-assisted machining (VAM) has been proved to be capable of efficiently suppressing the diamond tool wear in cutting steel. Currently, the prevailing speculation claimed by most researchers for such suppression is that the tool–workpiece flash temperature was reduced in VAM, which would slow the chemical reaction between iron on steel and carbon on diamond. However, the correctness of this speculation has not been proved by any experimental or theoretical research. In this paper, in order to understand the true wear suppression mechanism of diamond tools in VAM of steel, a study is conducted by measuring the workpiece temperatures and modeling the cutting energy consumption in both VAM and conventional cutting (CC). Based on the comparison results, it is concluded that the cutting temperature and energy consumption in VAM are not smaller than in CC, and hence the reduced diamond tool wear in VAM should not be caused by the claimed reduced temperature, especially when the material removal rate is very small. Finally, based on the EDS analysis and the comparison of experimental results under different air pressure, two probable reasons are proposed for the significantly reduced diamond tool wear in VAM of steel: (i) increase of gas pressure at the tool–workpiece interface and (ii) generation of an oxide layer on the freshly machined surface.     

A direct comparison of the machining performance of a variax 5 axis parallel kinetic machining centre with conventional 3 and 5 axis machine tools

The current trend within the Tool and Die manufacturing sector is to machine components directly from hardened material using high speed 5-axis machining. This has been driven by the increasing requirements for cost competitiveness and lead-time reduction. Significant research effort has been applied to the optimisation of the process with factors such as tooling and machining strategies being considerably improved. However, the underlying structures of the machine tools used have remained unchanged and still consist of a serial kinematic chain. One of the standard justifications for the development of machines designed around parallel kinematic chains is that they should exhibit inherently greater stiffness, have higher axis accelerations and be capable of generating significantly higher cutting forces than conventional serial machines. This suggests that they should be ideally suited to the direct manufacture of tools and dies from hardened material.The comparison of different machine tool types is a complex and difficult process, particularly when their structures are fundamentally different. This paper describes an approach used to compare the performance of three very different types of machines. The technique uses two parameters; surface finish and geometric accuracy to assess the relative performance of different machine tools when cutting hardened material. The method is used to compare a serial kinematic 5-axis machining centre, a serial kinematic 3-axis machining centre and a parallel kinematic 6-axis machining centre.The results of the comparison are presented in this paper and show that all the machine tools performed to an equal standard for materials with a hardness of 54HRc but for very hard materials, 62HRc, the parallel kinematic machine out performed the serial machine tools.     

Tool path generation for ultra-precision machining of free-form surfaces

The generation of tool paths for ultra-precision machining is still a limiting factor in the manufacturing of parts with complex optical surfaces. In conventional machining as well as in complex five axes machining the application of CAD- and CAM-software for the generation of tool paths is state of the art. But these software solutions are not able to generate tool paths according to the high requirements of ultra-precision machining. This paper describes possible ways to generate tool paths for ultra-precision machining when the optical surface can be analytically described or when the surface data is derived from optical design software. Ultra-precision milling experiments with different tool paths have been carried out and the quality of the machined geometry has been evaluated concerning the achievable form accuracy.     

Tool path generation for 4-axis contour EDM rough machining

Contour or CNC EDM machining of free-form surfaces requires tool paths that are different from those used in mechanical milling although in geometry both processes are described by the similar model of intersection between the rotating tool and the workpiece. In this paper, special requirements on tool paths demanded by contour EDM machining are studied and a two-phase tool path generation method for 4-axis contour EDM rough milling with a cylindrical electrode is developed. In the first phase of the method, initial tool paths for virtual 3-axis milling are generated in a commercial CAD/CAM system—Unigraphics, which provides users with plenty of options in choosing suitable tool path patterns. From these tool paths, cutter contact (CC) points between electrode and workpiece are reversely calculated. In the second phase, considering the special requirements of EDM machining, which include discharging gap compensation, electrode wear compensation, DC arcing prevention, etc., the electrode is adjusted to an optimized interference-free orientation by rotating it around the CC points obtained in the previous phase. This new orientation together with the reference point of electrode is output as new tool path. The whole algorithm has been integrated into Unigraphics, machining simulations and tests have been conducted for 4-axis contour EDM rough machining.     

Spiral cutting operation strategy for machining of sculptured surfaces by conformal map approach

Although compound surfaces and polyhedral models are widely used in manufacturing industry, the tool path planning strategies are very limited for such surfaces in five-axis machining and high speed machining. In this paper, a novel conformal map based and planar spiral guided spiral tool path generation method is described for NC machining of complex surfaces. The method uses conformal map to establish a relationship between 3D physical surface and planar circular region. This enables NC operation to be performed as if the surface is plat. Then through inversely mapping a planar spiral defined by a mathematical function into 3D physical space, the spiral cutter contact paths are derived without inheriting any corners on the boundary in the subsequent interior paths. The main advantage of the proposed method is that a smoother, longer and boundary conformed spiral topography tool path is developed. Therefore, the machined surface can be cut continuously with minimum tool retractions during the cutting operations. And it allows both compound surfaces and triangular surfaces can be machined at high speed. Finally, experimental results are given to testify the proposed approach.     

Optimized feed scheduling in three axes machining. Part I: Fundamentals of the optimized feed scheduling strategy

An optimized feed scheduling strategy is proposed in this paper to maximize the metal removal rate in 3-axis machining while guaranteeing the machining accuracy. The tool path is assumed defined by a cubic parametric form. In part I of this paper, the fundamentals of this strategy are presented. This strategy integrates the feed drive dynamics, described by the acceleration/deceleration (Acc/Dec) profile, with the minimum-time trajectory planning in order to achieve the desired feed rate at the appropriate position. An optimum use of the feed drive capabilities is considered to track the changes in the cutting geometry along the tool path and to ensure an acceptable contour error. Therefore, this strategy combines different constraints and various criteria in modifying the feed rate to maintain a near-constant cutting force resulting in a highly non-linear problem. The constraints include the cutting force magnitude, the feed rate boundaries, the contour error and the characteristics of the (Acc/Dec) profile of the different feed drive systems. The criteria are the maximum production rate, the machining accuracy and safety. In part II of this paper, the effectiveness of this strategy is demonstrated using ball end mill operation on a workpiece that provides variable cutting geometry along a non-linear tool path. The performance of this strategy in terms of productivity, machining safety, and machining accuracy, is compared to a feed scheduling strategy based on control points as well as to milling with constant feed rate.     

Comparison between multi-point and other 5-axis tool positioning strategies

A method of generating sculptured surfaces at multiple points of contact between the tool and the workpiece was developed and proven viable by the current authors in previous work. They denoted this finish machining method, “Multi Point Machining”, or simply MPM. This paper compares MPM with two other 5-axis tool positioning strategies; namely: the inclined tool, and the principal axis method. It is also compared with 3-axis ball nose machining. Comparisons are conducted using computer simulations and experimental cutting tests. Results obtained show that MPM produced scallop heights that are much smaller than those produced by the other tool positioning strategies.     

非摆线型采油螺杆泵转子复合加工机床研制

针对现有双头螺杆泵转子线型存在的问题以及加工方法的局限性,通过研究非摆线螺杆泵转子线型形成原理,设计了非摆线型采油螺杆泵转子复合加工机床,利用立铣刀对做行星运动的工件进行包络,加工出非摆线型螺杆泵转子。根据机床的机械结构以及转子加工表面的形成运动,对转子加工机床进行了运动分析,确定了机床各轴之间的运动关系。并分析立铣刀在加工转子时所产生的截面轮廓误差,确定了误差随工件自转转速变化的关系,对非摆线型螺杆泵转子的加工提供了参考。     

Experimental investigation and simulation of machining thin-walled workpieces

An enhanced simulation model is presented in this paper to predict form deviations in end milling processes of thin-walled structures. The calculation of tool engagement is based on level curves representing surface geometry of the workpiece and the NC code driven sweep volume. To consider influences of force-induced deflections resulting in static form errors on machined surface of the workpiece, a model for superposed stresses is enclosed. Derived from the tool engagement, the cutting force is predicted using a parametric force model. The experimental investigations within the measuring of static and dynamic form errors during processing and afterwards are shown and measurement results are compared with results of the cutting simulation to verify the proposed method. The presented achievements are deduced from research activities aiming at an increased understanding of shape deviation induced by interactions between tool, workpiece and clamping device during machining.     

5-Axis adaptive flank milling of flexible thin-walled parts based on the on-machine measurement

Deformation of the part and cutter caused by cutting forces immediately affects the dimensional accuracy of manufactured parts. This paper presents an integrated machining deviation compensation strategy based on on-machine measurement (OMM) inspection system. Previous research attempts on this topic deal with deformation compensation in machining of geometries in 3-axis machine tools only. This paper is the first time that concerned with 5-axis flank milling of flexible thin-walled parts. To capture the machined surface precision dimensions, OMM with a touch-trigger probe installed on machine׳s spindle is utilized. Probe path is planned to obtain the coordinate of the sampling points on machined surface. The machined surface can then be reconstructed. Meanwhile, the cutter׳s envelope surface is calculated based on nominal cutter location source file (CLSF). Subsequently, the machining error caused by part and cutter deflection is calibrated by comparing the deviation between the machined surface and the envelope surface. An iteration toolpath compensation algorithm is designed to decrease machining errors and avoid unwanted interference by modifying the toolpath. Experiment of machining the impeller blade is carried out to validate the methodology developed in this paper. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in machining error compensation.     

大型龙门式五轴加工中心仿真系统在UGNX7．5上的建立和应用

对数控编程计算机碰撞仿真加工系统进行分析和研究。通过在UGNX7．5中进行二次开发,研究了在UGNX7．5中开发五轴数控机床切削仿真加工环境,并以T35龙门五轴联动加工中心为例,详细介绍了在UGNX7．5中对大型龙门结构的数控五轴加工中心机床的切削仿真加工系统进行开发的方法与过程,开发了T35在UGNX7．5中的碰撞仿真加工系统。T35机床的仿真系统,对在其上加工的复杂零件刀具路径及机床运动可以进行精确的模拟加工,真实地反映和再现实际的加工过程,大大减少了机床的试切时间,提高了CAM程序的安全性和可靠性,降低了产品研发的成本。     

The form error prediction in side wall machining considering tool deflection

In this research, an effective method for the form error prediction in side wall machining with a flat end mill is suggested. The form error is predicted directly from the tool deflection without surface generation by cutting edge locus with time simulation. The developed model can predict the surface form error accurately about 300 times faster than the previous method. Cutting forces and tool deflection are calculated considering tool geometry, tool setting error and machine tool stiffness. The characteristics and the difference of generated surface shape in up milling and down milling are discussed. The usefulness of the presented method is verified from a set of experiments under various cutting conditions generally used in die and mold manufacturing. This study contributes to real time surface shape estimation and cutting process planning for the improvement of form accuracy.     

六面顶压机油缸加工机的研制

我们研制了一种新型超精加工设备,用来修磨加工六面顶压机油缸的内孔.通过采用有效可行的工艺,特殊的超精磨具,保证了不易加工的大直径设备内孔的尺寸精度与表面粗糙度的要求.用该设备加工近百台压机油缸,经检验全部合格.该设备结构简单、维护方便、使用寿命长、有效地解决了六面顶压机油缸泄露问题,值得推广使用.     

6-Axis control cutting of overhanging curved grooves by means of non-rotational tool with application of ultrasonic vibrations

This paper presents a new machining method that efficiently cuts overhanging curve grooves on wall surfaces without causing a collision between the tool and the workpiece. It also describes the development of software for 6-axis control grooving and the effect of applied ultrasonic vibrations (USV) in cutting overhanging grooves (OHG). In general, rotational tools are used to produce grooves, thus resulting in long circular arc segments at the cutting end points, as well as placing restrictions on the manufacture of grooves with continuous change in curvature, while ensuring that they do not overshoot the side clearance angle of the cutting edge with the groove. The study aims at machining OHGs presently impossible to machine by conventional methods. From the experimental results, it was found that the new machining method, which is 6-axis control cutting using a non-rotational tool with the application of USV, is capable of cutting an OHG on wall surfaces correctly.     

Modelling of the electrochemical machining process by the boundary element method

This paper describes the development and application of the boundary element method to model the machining of simple milling and turning features. The 3D model uses linear triangular elements to discretise the workpiece and tool surfaces. Highlights of the program include the use of analytical integration to calculate the element matrices rather than numerical, and the automatic refinement of the mesh as the workpiece is progressively machined. The program has been tested for milling slots using a rectangular tool and for turning a thin-walled tube. It is shown that there is good agreement between the predicted and experimental results.