Failure mechanisms of a PCD tool in high-speed face milling of Ti–6Al–4V alloy

High-speed milling tests were carried out on Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy with a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool. Tool wear morphologies were observed and examined with a digital microscope. The main tool failure mechanisms were discussed and analyzed utilizing scanning electron microscope, and the element distribution of the failed tool surface was detected using energy dispersive spectroscopy. Results showed that tool flank wear rate increased with the increase in cutting speed. The PCD tool is suitable for machining of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy with a cutting speed around 250 m/min. The PCD tool exhibited relatively serious chipping and spalling at cutting speed higher than 375 m/min, within further increasing of the cutting speed the flank wear and breakage increased greatly as a result of the enhanced thermal–mechanical impacts. In addition, the PCD tool could hardly work at cutting speed of 1,000 m/min due to the catastrophic fracture of the cutting edge and intense flank wear. There was evidence of workpiece material adhesion on the tool rake face and flank face in very close proximity to the cutting edge rather than on the chipped or flaked surface, which thereby leads to the accelerating flank wear. The failure mechanisms of PCD tool in high-speed wet milling of Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy were mainly premature breakage and synergistic interaction among adhesive wear and abrasive wear.     

Gas–magnetic bearings in high-speed rotor systems

The cantilever overhang of a shaft on gas–magnetic bearings significantly affects the output characteristics of a high-speed rotor system. The rotational precision and rigidity of the rotor may be increased by adaptive control of the magnetic forces.     

A signal interpolation method for Fabry–Perot interferometer utilized in mechanical vibration measurement

In this investigation, a self-developed signal processing method for Fabry–Perot interferometer is proposed which can be utilized for high-speed dynamic displacement measurements, e.g. mechanical vibration measurements. The lookup table (LUT) integrated with the interference intensity equation has been employed for the interpolation processing of interference signals. With the aid of this method, the interpolation error has been reduced by 40% in comparison with that resulting from the commercial sinusoidal signal processing module. By operations of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), the displacement measurement distribution can be converted into the frequency spectrum diagram. The interpolation resolution of the proposed interferometric displacement measurement system is about 0.1 nm. Experimental results demonstrate that this interferometer system is available for measuring frequencies till 2 kHz where its corresponding amplitude is 0.15 μm.     

Research on the modeling of burr formation process in micro-ball end milling operation on Ti–6Al–4V

Burrs generated along the finished edges and surfaces in micro-milling operation have significant impact on the surface quality and operational performance of the finished parts and microstructures. In order to obtain a better recognition of burr generation process, 3-dimensional micro-ball end milling operation FEM models on Ti–6Al–4V have been established. As a result, a newfound type of burr lying on the slot base has been detected. According to their generating locations, burrs discovered in the simulation are classified into four types: entrance burr, exit burr, top burr, and slot base burr. Their formation processes, especially the generation procedure of slot base burr, are carefully investigated and analyzed. Furthermore, the correlation between cutting parameters and top burr sizes in micro-ball end milling is investigated. At last, effective validation experiments for the proposed model are conducted and good agreements are achieved in the morphologies of burrs between the experiments and simulations. It can be concluded that the adoption of a small ratio of axial depth of cut to the mill radius has a significant effect in the reduction of top burr generation in micro-ball end milling operation.     

Prediction of simultaneous dynamic stability limit of time�Cvariable parameters system in thin-walled workpiece high-speed milling processes

A method for predicting simultaneous dynamic stability limit of thin-walled workpiece high-speed milling process is described. The proposed approach takes into account the variations of dynamic characteristics of workpiece with the tool position. A dedicated thin-walled workpiece representative of a typical industrial application is designed and modeled by finite element method. The curvilinear equation of modal characteristics changing with tool position is regressed. A specific dynamic stability lobe diagram is then elaborated by scanning the dynamic properties of workpiece along the machined direction throughout the machining process. The results show that, during thin-walled workpiece milling process, material removing plays an important part on the change of dynamic characteristics of system, and the stability limit curves are dynamic curves with time?Cvariable. In practical machining, some suggestion is interpreted in order to avoid the vibrations and increase the chatter free material removal rate and surface finish. Then investigations are compared and verified by high-speed milling experiments with thin-walled workpiece.     

A solid trimming method to extract cutter–workpiece engagement maps for multi-axis milling

A solid trimming method is proposed to determine cutter–workpiece engagement (CWE) maps, which are essential to investigate cutting forces, machining errors, and chatter stability in multi-axis milling. In this method, CWE maps, defined as the instantaneous contact area from the cutting flutes’ entrance to exit, are extracted by trimming the removal volume (RV) with the feasible contact surfaces. Compared to the traditional Boolean operation approach, the trimming method extracts CWE maps without the requirement of abundant surface/surface intersection operations. Moreover, instead of using the union solid model associated with all cutter locations, RV is calculated for the first time by introducing the existing concept of analytical tool swept volume, which is previously limited to tool path planning. Verification tests show that the proposed method has the advantages of high accuracy and efficiency.     

Frequency–spectrum characteristics of force in end milling with tool wear and eccentricity

The effects of chip load, tool wear, and tool eccentricity on milling force are similar; in order to distinguish them from each other, the spectral characteristics of milling force for four flute end mills was studied. With simplified milling force model, the calculation expression of instantaneous milling force under tool eccentricity was derived based on the 2D geometry of tool cutting into workpiece. Using simulation methods, the amplitude spectra of milling forces under neither wear nor eccentricity, only eccentricity, both wear and eccentricity, and the every phase spectrum of force caused only by wear of one tooth were analyzed. The analysis results showed that the basic and third harmonic amplitudes of spindle frequency were linear only with eccentric distance, the fourth harmonic amplitude was linear only with feed, the second harmonic component was in relationship only with tool wear, and harmonics with same frequency caused by wear of different teeth were in phase or out of phase. Then corresponding milling experiments were done, the relations between experimental harmonic amplitudes of force and milling parameters were analyzed, and were found being in good agreement with above simulation results. These indicate that amplitudes of these harmonics could be taken as indices in recognizing eccentricity, wear, and chip load, respectively, and their variations contain in-process information of tool wear. This study proposes a new idea of identifying tool eccentricity and wear with force itself.     

Optimal Archimedes’ spiral interpolation for cutter path generation in NC machining of noncircular contours

In NC machining of noncircular contours with a rotation table, the cutter is fed along a straight line intersecting perpendicularly the rotation axis of the work piece. In this situation, the cutter path usually consists of a series of Archimedes’ spiral segments. This paper proposes an optimal interpolation approach of Archimedes’ spiral segments to generate the cutter path for machining noncircular contours. The number of segments for the cutter path resulted from the approach is the fewest under the condition that the interpolation accuracy completely satisfies the specified limit value. It has been also evidenced that the profile error of the machined contours corresponding to the cutter path is perfectly controlled within the specified interpolation accuracy limit. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been sufficiently confirmed by applying it to machining a disc cam and an algebraic spiral type of scroll wrap.     

Theoretical–experimental evaluation of different biomaterials for parts obtaining by fused deposition modeling

Although microFDM (microFused Deposition Modeling) has been widely used with biomaterials, there is not enough information about their flow models and the appropriate values for operating conditions. The aim of this paper is to provide a criterion to establish feasible ranges of temperature and shear stress to carry out fused deposition of the biomaterials studied at microscale (hundreds of μm). Materials used were (acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene), PLA (polylactic acid), and PCL (polycaprolactone). Polyvinyl alcohol was also included in this study, although its quick thermal degradation has led to poor dimensional stability parameters and, therefore, it has been considered inappropriate for this application. Viscosity models were obtained in a 300 μm nozzle microFDM device manufactured by electroforming techniques. These models were used in a simulation analysis whose results show a relationship between the convergence of the algorithm and the characteristics of the filament obtained in equivalent experimental testing.Besides, melt fracture and relevance of swelling was assessed by optical microscopy observation. This information allows to define operating conditions (in terms of temperature and shear rate) to obtain homogeneous morphological characteristics of the microextrudate. Furthermore, the procedure stated could be used in tissue engineering to delimit feasible operating conditions to manufacture scaffolds by fused deposition modeling.     

Surface roughness modeling and optimization of tungsten–copper alloys in micro-milling processes

Nowadays, the micrometric and nanometric dimensional precision of industrial components is a common feature of micro-milling manufacturing processes. Hence, great importance is given to such aspects as online metrology and real-time monitoring systems for accurate control of surface roughness and dimensional quality. A real-time monitoring system is proposed here to predict surface roughness with an estimation error of 9.5%, by using the vibration signal that is emitted during the milling process. In the experimental setup, the z-axis component vibration is measured using two different diameters under several cutting conditions. Then, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model is implemented for modeling surface roughness, yielding a high goodness of fit indices and a good generalization capability. Finally, the optimization process is carried out by considering two contradictory objectives: unit machining time and surface roughness. A multi-objective genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem, obtaining a set of non-dominated solutions. Pareto front representation is a useful decision-making tool for operators and technicians in the micro-milling process. An example of the Pareto front utility-based approach that selects two points close to both extreme ends of the frontier is described in the paper. In the first case (point 1), machine time is of greater importance, and in the second case (point 2), importance is attached to surface roughness. In general terms, users can select different combinations, at all times moving along the Pareto front.     

Influence of the electromagnetic gap in gas–magnetic bearings on the output characteristics of high-speed rotor systems

The electromagnetic gap in gas–magnetic bearings has a considerable influence on the output load and rigidity characteristics of high-speed rotor systems, as shown by experiments and simulation.     

Data-driven modeling and predictive control for boiler–turbine unit using fuzzy clustering and subspace methods

This paper develops a novel data-driven fuzzy modeling strategy and predictive controller for boiler–turbine unit using fuzzy clustering and subspace identification (SID) methods. To deal with the nonlinear behavior of boiler–turbine unit, fuzzy clustering is used to provide an appropriate division of the operation region and develop the structure of the fuzzy model. Then by combining the input data with the corresponding fuzzy membership functions, the SID method is extended to extract the local state-space model parameters. Owing to the advantages of the both methods, the resulting fuzzy model can represent the boiler–turbine unit very closely, and a fuzzy model predictive controller is designed based on this model. As an alternative approach, a direct data-driven fuzzy predictive control is also developed following the same clustering and subspace methods, where intermediate subspace matrices developed during the identification procedure are utilized directly as the predictor. Simulation results show the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Surface roughness prediction for the milling of Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy with the use of statistical and soft computing techniques

This study focuses on Ti–6Al–4V ELI titanium alloy machining by means of plain peripheral down milling process and subsequent modeling of this process, in order to predict surface quality of the workpiece and identify optimal cutting parameters, that lead to minimum surface roughness. For the purpose of accomplishing this task a set of experiments were performed on a CNC milling centre and design of experiments based on Box Behnken Design (BBD) for a three factor and three level central composite design concept was conducted. Depth of cut, cutting speed and feed rate were selected as input parameters and surface roughness was measured after each experiment performed. At first, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed for establishing a quadratic relationship between input and output parameters. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then conducted for the evaluation of the proposed formula. RSM was also used for the optimization analysis that followed for the determination of milling cutting parameters for minimum surface roughness. The analysis indicates that the use of BBD can reduce the number of experiments needed for modeling and optimizing the milling operation of Titanium alloys. Furthermore, this method is able to provide models that can reliably be used for any cutting conditions within the limits of the input data. Finally, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) models were developed to allow for a more robust simulation model to be built and comparison between ANN and RSM models to be performed. From the presented results, for RSM, the mean square error and the correlation coefficient were determined to be 8.633 × 10⁻³ and 0.9713, respectively; for ANN models, the corresponding values were 2 × 10⁻³ and 0.9824, for the test group of the optimum model. Simulations indicated that, although input data were too few, a considerably reliable ANN model was able to be built and despite of its complexity compared to RSM model, it was proven to be superior in terms of prediction accuracy.     

Taguchi method for parameter design in ACO algorithm for distribution–allocation in a two-stage supply chain

In a distribution–allocation problem, when fixed cost for a transportation route is also taken into account in addition to the unit transportation cost, the problem is known as fixed charge transportation problem (FCTP). It is not possible to solve an FCTP optimally in polynomial time. This forces the researchers and practitioners to develop efficient non-traditional optimisation techniques that can provide near-optimal solutions in lesser time. This paper presents a solution methodology using ant colony optimisation (ACO) for a distribution–allocation problem in a two-stage supply chain with fixed cost for a transportation route. Taguchi method for robust design is adopted for finding the optimum combination of parameters of the ACO algorithm. A comparative analysis between the predicted signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and the actual S/N ratio reveals that the error deviation in the experiment is minimal. From the confirmation tests, a good agreement between the predicted S/N ratio and the actual S/N ratio is observed. This validates the proposed experiment based on Taguchi method for parameter design.     

Empirical modeling of the white layer thickness formed in electrodischarge drilling of beryllium–copper alloys

White layer thickness (WLT) formed in electrodischarge drilling (EDD) of beryllium–copper (Be–Cu) alloy and the variation of WLT with respect to drilling depth has been studied in detail by this work. An empirical model relating to EDD process parameters (the working current and pulse on-/off-time) has been developed to predict the WLT at various hole depths. Experimental results were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s honestly significant difference methods. It was found that the white layer thickness increases with increasing drilling depth as well as the working current and the pulse duration. While the effect of EDD parameters on the variation of the WLT is around 38–39 %, the effect of the hole depth on the variation of the WLT is 17 %. The developed second order mathematical stochastic model for the WLT has an adequate predictive ability.     

Investigation of the effect of machining parameters on the surface quality of machined brass (60/40) in CNC end milling—ANFIS modeling

Brass and brass alloys are widely employed industrial materials because of their excellent characteristics such as high corrosion resistance, non-magnetism, and good machinability. Surface quality plays a very important role in the performance of milled products, as good surface quality can significantly improve fatigue strength, corrosion resistance, or creep life. Surface roughness (Ra) is one of the most important factors for evaluating surface quality during the finishing process. The quality of surface affects the functional characteristics of the workpiece, including fatigue, corrosion, fracture resistance, and surface friction. Furthermore, surface roughness is among the most critical constraints in cutting parameter selection in manufacturing process planning. In this paper, the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used to predict the surface roughness in computer numerical control (CNC) end milling. Spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut were the predictor variables. Experimental validation runs were conducted to validate the ANFIS model. The predicted surface roughness was compared with measured data, and the maximum prediction error for surface roughness was 6.25 %, while the average prediction error was 2.75 %.     

Methods for revealing deformation martensite in austenitic–ferritic steels

The structure and magnetic properties of austenitic–ferritic steel specimens were investigated. Specimens were preliminarily held in liquid nitrogen and then subjected to cold plastic deformation. The practical applicability of various methods for detecting and visualizing the deformationmartensite phase was investigated. Several methods, including optical, electron, atomicand magnetic-force microscopy, the X-ray diffraction analysis, magnetic methods, and the method of automatic analysis of electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) patterns, which are widely used in modern structural analysis, were used.     

Tool wear and tool life in end milling of 15–5 PH stainless steel under different cooling and lubrication conditions

Most of the machining operations on stainless steel alloys are carried out with cutting fluid due to the poor machinability of this kind of material. Tool wear mechanisms are directly influenced by the cooling and lubrication condition to which the tool is exposed, especially in interrupted cutting processes. This work investigates tool wear mechanisms for an end milling operation of a precipitation-hardened martensitic stainless steel under four different cooling and lubrication conditions. The results demonstrated that the cooling and lubrication condition strongly influences tool life and the tool wear mechanism, and furthermore, that tool lubrication rather than cooling should be the purpose for using cutting fluid in this kind of operation, in order to avoid damage caused by tool temperature variations.     

Modelling Acoustic–Electric Nondestructive Testing for Defects in Dielectric Materials

Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing - The influence of defectiveness of solid-state dielectric samples on the parameters of the electromagnetic response under deterministic acoustic action on...