Built-up edge effects on process outputs of titanium alloy micro milling

Built-up edge (BUE) is generally known to cause surface finish problems in the micro milling process. The loose particles from the BUE may be deposited on the machined surface, causing surface roughness to increase. On the other hand, a stable BUE formation may protect the tool from rapid tool wear, which hinders the productivity of the micro milling process. Despite its common presence in practice, the influence of BUE on the process outputs of micro milling has not been studied in detail. This paper investigates the relationship between BUE formation and process outputs in micro milling of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V using an experimental approach. Micro end mills used in this study are fabricated to have a single straight edge using wire electrical discharge machining. An initial experimental effort was conducted to study the relationship between micro cutting tool geometry, surface roughness, and micro milling process forces and hence conditions to form stable BUE on the tool tip have been identified. The influence of micro milling process conditions on BUE size, and their combined effect on forces, surface roughness, and burr formation is investigated. Long-term micro milling experiment was performed to observe the protective effect of BUE on tool life. The results show that tailored micro cutting tools having stable BUE can be designed to machine titanium alloys with long tool life with acceptable surface quality.     

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.     

Development and experimental validation of a mechanistic model of cutting forces in micro- ball end milling of full slots

In the present work, a mechanistic model of cutting forces is developed with a novel approach to arrive at the cutting edge geometry as well as the cutting mechanics. The geometry of cutting elements derived and verified using a virtual tool generated in CAD environment is considered. The cutting and edge force coefficients at every discrete point on the cutting edge of micro-ball end mill are established in a novel way from the basic metal cutting principles and fundamental properties of materials, considering edge radius and material strengthening effects. Further, measured edge radius is used in the model. Full slot micro-ball end milling experiments are conducted on a high-precision high-speed machining center using a 0.4 mm diameter tungsten carbide tool and cutting forces are measured using a high-sensitive piezo-electric dynamometer. It is established that the predicted as well as experimental cutting forces are higher at very low uncut chip thickness in comparison with the cutting edge radius in micro-ball end milling also. Amplitudes of cutting forces and instantaneous values with incremental rotation of the tool are compared with predicted values over two revolutions for validation of proposed model.     

ANALYTICAL MODELING OF MICRO END-MILLING FORCES WITH EDGE RADIUS AND MATERIAL STRENGTHENING EFFECTS

The study aims at developing a predictive analytical force model for the micro end-milling operation taking into account the material strengthening as well as the edge radius effects that come into play at the micro level. The mechanistic models for macro end-milling process have been extensively reported in literature and such models predominantly use milling force coefficients which are empirically determined from end-milling experiments. The proposed model for micro end-milling is based on determination of milling force coefficients from fundamental oblique cutting approach. The edge radius effect has been accounted by analyzing the rubbing action similar to the rolling of a cylinder over work surface. Johnson-Cook material model has been modified based on the strain gradient plasticity theory incorporating the increase in material strength with decreasing uncut chip thickness. From the micro orthogonal cutting experiments, a good agreement between the experimental and predicted shear strength values is observed. The force model is validated against measured forces in end-milling experiments carried out on the KERN Evo 5 axis micro machining center. The feed and lateral forces are predicted within 10% deviation on an average.     

Surface generation modeling of micro milling process with stochastic tool wear

Micro milling is widely used to manufacture miniature parts and features at high quality with low set-up cost. To achieve a higher quality of existing micro products and improve the milling performance, a reliable analytical model of surface generation is the prerequisite as it offers the foundation for surface topography and surface roughness optimization. In the micro milling process, the stochastic tool wear is inevitable, but the deep influence of tool wear hasn't been considered in the micro milling process operation and modeling. Therefore, an improved analytical surface generation model with stochastic tool wear is presented for the micro milling process. A probabilistic approach based on the particle filter algorithm is used to predict the stochastic tool wear progression, linking online measurement data of cutting forces and tool vibrations with the state of tool wear. Meanwhile, the influence of tool run-out is also considered since the uncut chip thickness can be comparable to feed per tooth compared with that in conventional milling. Based on the process kinematics, tool run-out and stochastic tool wear, the cutting edge trajectory for micro milling can be determined by a theoretical and empirical coupled method. At last, the analytical surface generation model is employed to predict the surface topography and surface roughness, along with the concept of the minimum chip thickness and elastic recovery. The micro milling experiment results validate the effectiveness of the presented analytical surface generation model under different machining conditions. The model can be a significant supplement for predicting machined surface prior to the costly micro milling operations, and provide a basis for machining parameters optimization.     

An improved cutting force model for micro milling considering machining dynamics

Micro milling, as a versatile micro machining process, is kinematically similar to conventional milling; however, it is significantly different from conventional milling with respect to chip formation mechanisms and uncut chip thickness modelling, due to the comparable size of the edge radius to the chip thickness, and the small per-tooth feeding. Considering tool runout and dynamic displacement between the tool and the workpiece, the contour of the workpiece left by previous tool paths is typically in a wavy form, and the wavy surface provides a feedback mechanism to cutting force generation because the instantaneous uncut chip thickness changes with both the vibration during the current tool path and the surface left by the previous tool paths. In this study, a more accurate uncut chip thickness model was established including the precise trochoidal trajectory of the cutting edge, tool runout and dynamic modulation caused by the machine tool system vibration. The dynamic regenerative effect is taken into account by considering the influence of all the previous cutting trajectories using numerical iteration; thus, the multiple time delays (MTD) are considered in this model. It is found that transient separation of the tool-workpiece occurring at a low feed per tooth, caused by MTD and the existing cutting force models, is no longer applicable when transient tool-workpiece separation occurs. Based on the proposed uncut chip thickness model, an improved cutting force model of micro milling is developed by full consideration of the ploughing effect and elastic recovery of the workpiece material. The proposed cutting force model is verified by micro end milling experiments, and the results show that the proposed model is capable of producing more accurate cutting force prediction than other existing models, particularly at small feed per tooth.     

微细铣削氧化锆陶瓷铣削力特征分析

针对硬态氧化锆陶瓷的微细精密加工问题,采用金刚石涂层微铣刀进行了微细铣削试验。介绍了微细铣削陶瓷材料时加工区的几何特征,分析了可能产生单齿铣削的原因。通过测力仪记录了铣削力信号,对特征力信号进行了描述和分析,研究了铣削参数以及刀具磨损对铣削力大小的影响。结果表明,微细铣削陶瓷材料时,由于每齿进给量非常小,故铣削过程易产生单齿铣削现象;铣削力轴向分量Fz的值最大,随着每齿进给量的增大,Fz呈明显上升趋势;随铣削路程的增加,刀具磨损加剧,铣削力也随之增大,受刀具磨损影响产生一定波动,特别是Fz,其增加幅度明显大于Fx和Fy的增加幅度。     

Influence of cutting edge radius on surface integrity and burr formation in milling titanium

The influence of the cutting edge micro geometry on cutting process and on tool performance is subject to several research projects. Recently, published papers mainly focus on the cutting edge rounding and its influence on tool life and cutting forces. For applications even more important, however, is the influence of the cutting edge radius on the integrity of the machined part. Especially for titanium, which is used in environments requiring high mechanical integrity, the information about the dependency of surface integrity on cutting edge geometry is important. This paper therefore studies the influence of the cutting edge radius on surface integrity in terms of residual stress, micro hardness, surface roughness and optical characterisation of the surface and near surface area in up and down milling of the titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V. Moreover, the influence of the cutting edge radius on burr formation is analysed. The experiments show that residual stresses increase with the cutting edge radius especially in up milling, whereas the influence in down milling is less pronounced. The influence of the cutting edge radius on surface roughness is non-uniform. The formation of burr increases with increasing cutting edge radius, and is thus in agreement with the residual stress tests.     

Chatter stability of micro end milling by considering process nonlinearities and process damping

The micro end milling uses the miniature tools to fabricate complexity microstructures at high rotational speeds. The regenerative chatter, which causes tool wear and poor machining quality, is one of the challenges needed to be solved in the micro end milling process. In order to predict the chatter stability of micro end milling, this paper proposes a cutting forces model taking into account the process nonlinearities caused by tool run-out, trajectory of tool tip and intermittency of chip formation, and the process damping effect in the ploughing-dominant and shearing-dominant regimes. Since the elasto-plastic deformation of micro end milling leads to large process damping which will affect the process stability, the process damping is also included in the cutting forces model. The micro end milling process is modeled as a two degrees of freedom system with the dynamic parameters of tool-machine system obtained by the receptance coupling method. According to the calculated cutting forces, the time-domain simulation method is extended to predict the chatter stability lobes diagrams. Finally, the micro end milling experiments of cutting forces and machined surface quality have been investigated to validate the accuracy of the proposed model.     

The design and optimization of micro polycrystalline diamond ball end mill for repairing micro-defects on the surface of KDP crystal

Micro-milling is a promising approach to repair the micro-defects on the surface of KH₂PO₄ (KDP) crystal. The geometrical parameters of micro ball end mill will greatly influence the repairing process as a result of the soft brittle properties of KDP crystal. Two types of double-edged micro ball end mills were designed and a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model was established to simulate the micro milling process of KDP crystal, which was validated by the milling experiments. The rake angle of −45°, the relief angle of 45° and the cutting edge radius of 1.5–2 μm were suggested to be the optimal geometrical parameters, whereas the rake angle of −25° and the relief angle of 9° were optimal just for micro ball end mill of Type I, the configuration with the rake angles ranging from 0° to 35°, by fully considering the cutting force, and the stress–strain distribution over the entire tool and the cutting zone in the simulation. Moreover, the micro polycrystalline diamond (PCD) ball end mills adopting the obtained optimal parameters were fabricated by wire electro-discharge machining (WEDM) and grinding techniques, with the average surface roughness Ra of tool rake face and tool flank face ∼0.10 μm, and the cutting edge radius of the tool ∼1.6 μm. The influence of tool's geometrical parameters on the finished surface quality was verified by the cutting experiments, and the tool with symmetric structure was found to have a better cutting performance. The repairing outlines with Ra of 31.3 nm were processed by the self-fabricated tool, which could successfully hold the growth of unstable damage sites on KDP crystal.     

基于ABAQUS/Explicit的AZ31b镁合金微铣削三维仿真研究

传统铣削仿真往往基于宏观建模而忽略了切削刃钝圆半径,对于微切削过程中出现的尺度效应以及最小切削厚度等特有现象无法进行准确描述,与实际加工差距较大。本文利用有限元软件ABQUS/Explicit对AZ31b镁合金材料微铣削过程进行三维变切削厚度仿真,采用ALE自适应技术控制网格畸变过大问题,进而获得了反映尺度效应的微铣削模型,并研究了主轴转速、铣削深度、每齿进给量对于铣削力的相关影响。     

A study on critical depth of cuts in micro grooving

Ultra precision diamond cutting is a very efficient manufacturing method for optical parts such as HOE, Fresnel lenses, diffraction lenses, and others. During micro cutting, the rake angle is likely to become negative because the tool edge radius is considerably large compared to the sub-micrometer-order depth of cut. Depending on the ratio of the tool edge radius to the depth of cut, different micro-cutting mechanism modes appear. Therefore, the tool edge sharpness is the most important factor which affects the qualities of machined parts. That is why diamond, especially monocrystal diamond which has the sharpest edge among all other materials, is widely used in micro-cutting. The majar issue is regarding the minimum (critical) depth of cut needed to obtain continuous chips during the cutting process. In this paper, the micro machinability near the critical depth of cut is investigated in micro grooving with a diamond tool. The experimental results show the characteristics of micro-cutting in terms of cutting force ratio (Fx/Fy), chip shape, surface roughness, and surface hardening near the critical depth of cut.     

Development and evaluation of tool dynamometer for measuring high frequency cutting forces in micro milling

A tool dynamometer is developed for measuring the high frequency cutting forces, and evaluated in micro milling of aluminum 6061-T6 using a tungsten carbide (WC) micro end mill. To improve the accuracy and productivity of the machining process, it is essential to monitor and control the machining process by measuring cutting forces. In order to improve the precision and quality of machined parts, high-speed machining with smaller micro tools is required, causing higher frequency cutting forces. The first natural frequency of tool dynamometers is high enough to precisely measure the high cutting forces. We investigate dynamic characteristics of the tool dynamometer theoretically and experimentally. The measurable frequency range of the developed tool dynamometer was higher than the commercial tool dynamometer, and the measured cutting force signals were not distorted at high-speed of above 60,000 rpm. The results showed that the developed dynamometer is able to measure the static and dynamic force components in high-speed micro milling.     

整体式立铣刀三维建模及切削力预测研究

针对立铣刀三维建模困难及铣削时切削力难以预测等问题,根据微分几何原理建立立铣刀数学模型。基于数学模型将铣刀切削刃离散成斜角切削单元,根据剪切区应力、应变和温度控制方程,由材料本构方程计算流动应力,通过坐标变换关系建立铣削力预测模型。得到的铣削力与已有铣削试验数据一致,验证了铣削力模型的有效性。     

Mechanistic modelling of the milling process using complex tool geometry

Mechanistic models of the milling process must calculate the chip geometry and the cutter edge contact length in order to predict milling forces accurately. This task becomes increasingly difficult for the machining of three dimensional parts using complex tool geometry, such as bull nose cutters. In this paper, a mechanistic model of the milling process based on an adaptive and local depth buffer of the computer graphics card is compared to a traditional simulation method. Results are compared using a 3-axis wedge shaped cut – a tool path with a known chip geometry – in order to accommodate the traditional method. Effects of cutter nose radius on the cutting and edge forces are considered. It is verified that there is little difference (1.4% at most) in the predicted force values of the two methods, thereby validating the adaptive depth buffer approach. The numerical simulations are also verified using experimental cutting tests of aluminium, and found to agree closely (within 12%).     

Development of an automatic arc welding system using SMAW process

In end milling of pockets, variable radial depth of cut is generally encountered as the end mill enters and exits the corner, which has a significant influence on the cutting forces and further affects the contour accuracy of the milled pockets. This paper proposes an approach for predicting the cutting forces in end milling of pockets. A mathematical model is presented to describe the geometric relationship between an end mill and the corner profile. The milling process of corners is discretized into a series of steady-state cutting processes, each with different radial depth of cut determined by the instantaneous position of the end mill relative to the workpiece. For the cutting force prediction, an analytical model of cutting forces for the steady-state machining conditions is introduced for each segmented process with given radial depth of cut. The predicted cutting forces can be calculated in terms of tool/workpiece geometry, cutting parameters and workpiece material properties, as well as the relative position of the tool to workpiece. Experiments of pocket milling are conducted for the verification of the proposed method.     

On modeling of cutting forces in micro-end milling operation

Micro-end milling is used for manufacturing of complex miniaturized components precisely in wide range of materials. It is important to predict cutting forces accurately as it plays vital role in controlling tool and workpiece deflections as well as tool wear and breakage. The present study attempts to incorporate process characteristics such as edge radius of cutting tool, effective rake and clearance angles, minimum chip thickness, and elastic recovery of work material collectively while predicting cutting forces using mechanistic model. To incorporate these process characteristics effectively, it is proposed to divide cutting zone into two regions: shearing- and ploughing-dominant regions. The methodology estimates cutting forces in each partitioned zone separately and then combines the same to obtain total cutting force at a given cutter rotation angle. The results of proposed model are validated by performing machining experiments over a wide range of cutting conditions. The paper also highlights the importance of incorporating elastic recovery of work material and effective rake and clearance angle while predicting cutting forces. It has been observed that the proposed methodology predicts the magnitude and profile of cutting forces accurately for micro-end milling operation.     

斜圆柱结构的新型微细球端铣刀的设计与制造

针对微细切削刀具的特点与应用需求,设计一种斜圆柱结构的新型微细球端铣刀,将铣刀球端刀刃复杂的空间曲线转化为易加工的平面曲线。根据所设计铣刀的几何结构特征,从制造工艺方面进行刀具结构的调整,分析刀具的刃磨成形原理,并在微细刀具数控刃磨机上完成该刀具的制作。通过与传统螺旋槽球端铣刀和椭圆柱刃型球端铣刀的切削性能对比试验,研究所设计刀具的切削性能。试验结果表明,所设计的微细球端立铣刀在显著降低刀具制备难度的同时,具有较高的切削刃强度,能够满足硬脆性材料的微细切削要求。     

A solid modeler based ball-end milling process simulation

A system for geometric and physical simulation of the ball-end milling process using solid modeling is presented in this paper. A commercially available geometric engine is used to represent the cutting edge, cutter and updated part. The ball-end mill cutter modeled in this study is an insert type ball-end mill and the cutting edge is generated by intersecting an inclined plane with the cutter ball nose. The contact face between cutter and updated part is determined from the solid model of the updated part and cutter solid model. To determine cutting edge engagement for each tool rotational step, the intersections between the cutting edge with boundary of the contact face are determined. The engaged portion of the cutting edge for each tool rotational step is divided into small differential oblique cutting edge segments. Friction, shear angles and shear stresses are identified from orthogonal cutting data base available in the open literature. For each tool rotational position, the cutting force components are calculated by summing up the differential cutting forces. The instantaneous dynamic chip thickness is computed by summing up the rigid chip thickness, the tool deflection and the undulations left from the previous tooth, and then the dynamic cutting forces are obtained. For calculating the ploughing forces, Wu's model is extended to the ball-end milling process [21]. The total forces, including the cutting and ploughing forces, are applied to the structural vibratory model of the system and the dynamic deflections at the tool tip are predicted. The developed system is verified experimentally for various up-hill and down-hill angles.     

Tool edge radius effect on cutting temperature in micro-end-milling process

The cutting temperature plays an important role in micro-scale cutting process due to the fact that the dimension of the micro-cutter is small and the value of micro-cutter wear is sensitive to temperature. In this paper, the temperature distribution of the micro-cutter in the micro-end-milling process has been investigated by numerical simulations and experimental approach. Micro-end-milling processes are modeled by the three-dimensional finite element method coupling thermal?Cmechanical effects. The micro-cutter cutting temperature distribution, the effect of various tool edge radii on cutting force, and the effective stress during micro-end-milling of aluminum alloy Al2024-T6 using a tungsten-carbide micro-cutter are investigated on. The simulation results show that with increase of tool edge radius the cutting force increases, while the effective stress and mean cutting temperature decreases slightly. In increasing the tool edge radius, the maximum effective stress and cutting temperature region of the micro-cutter occur from the rake face to the corner on the tool edge and the flank face. The tool edge radius has been found to be the major factor affecting micro-cutter temperature distribution. The experimental verification of the simulation model is carried out on a micro-end-milling process of aluminum alloy 2024-T6 with a high-precision infrared camera. The influence of tool edge radius on cutting temperature distribution was verified in experiments.