Prediction of cutting force for ball end mill in sculptured surface based on analytic model of CWE and ICCE

Abstract

The force prediction is the precondition of improving equipment utilization ratio and optimizing process for CNC machining. Cutter-workpiece engagement (CWE) and in-cut cutting edge (ICCE) are the keys. In this article, a new analytic method of CWE and ICCE is proposed for ball end milling of sculptured surface and the prediction model of milling force is established. The sculptured surface is discretized into a series of infinitesimal inclined planes corresponding to cutter location points. The geometry relationships of cutter axis, feed direction and inclined plane are defined parametrically. The boundary curves and the boundary inflection points of the CWE are obtained by intersecting spatial standard curved surfaces with rotation transformation of coordinate system. The effective intersection points of the CWE and the cutter edge curve in X_c-Y_ctwo-dimensional plane are the upper and lower boundary points of ICCE. Based on the instantaneous chip thickness considering arbitrary feed direction, the force prediction model for ball end mill of three-axis surface milling is established. Simulation and experiment show that CWE and ICCE calculated by analytic method are well consistent with those of solid method. The predicted cutting forces match well with the measurements both in magnitude and variation trend.