Structure Improvement and Optimization of Gantry Milling System for Complex Boring and Milling Machining Center

To enhance the efficiency and machining precision of the TX1600G complex boring and milling machining center,a study was conducted on the structure of its gantry milling system.This study aimed to mitigate the influence of factors such as structural quality,natural frequency,and stiffness.The approach employed for this investigation involved mechanism topology optimization.To initiate this process,a finite element model of the gantry milling system structure was established.Subsequently,an objective function,comprising strain energy and modal eigenvalues,was synthesized.This objective function was optimized through multi-objective topology optimization,taking into account certain mass fraction constraints and considering various factors,including processing technology.The ultimate goal of this optimization was to create a gantry milling structure that exhibited high levels of dynamic and static stiffness,a superior natural frequency,and reduced mass.To validate the effectiveness of these topology optimization results,a comparison was made between the new and previous structures.The findings of this study serve as a valuable reference for optimizing the structure of other components within the machining center.

Optimization of micro milling electrical discharge machining of Inconel 718 by Grey-Taguchi method

The optimization of micro milling electrical discharge machining（EDM） process parameters of Inconel 718 alloy to achieve multiple performance characteristics such as low electrode wear,high material removal rate and low working gap was investigated by the Grey-Taguchi method.The influences of peak current,pulse on-time,pulse off-time and spark gap on electrode wear（EW）,material removal rate（MRR） and working gap（WG） in the micro milling electrical discharge machining of Inconel 718 were analyzed.The experimental results show that the electrode wear decreases from 5.6×10-9 to 5.2×10-9 mm3/min,the material removal rate increases from 0.47×10-8 to 1.68×10-8 mm3/min,and the working gap decreases from 1.27 to 1.19 μm under optimal micro milling electrical discharge machining process parameters.Hence,it is clearly shown that multiple performance characteristics can be improved by using the Grey-Taguchi method.

EQUIVALENT NORMAL CURVATURE APPROACH MILLING MODEL OF MACHINING FREEFORM SURFACES

A new milling methodology with the equivalent normal curvature milling model machining freeform surfaces is proposed based on the normal curvature theorems on differential geometry. Moreover, a specialized whirlwind milling tool and a 5-axis CNC horizontal milling machine are introduced. This new milling model can efficiently enlarge the material removal volume at the tip of the whirlwind milling tool and improve the producing capacity. The machining strategy of this model is to regulate the orientation of the whirlwind milling tool relatively to the principal directions of the workpiece surface at the point of contact, so as to create a full match with collision avoidance between the workpiece surface and the symmetric rotational surface of the milling tool. The practical results show that this new milling model is an effective method in machining complex three- dimensional surfaces. This model has a good improvement on finishing machining time and scallop height in machining the freeform surfaces over other milling processes. Some actual examples for manufacturing the freeform surfaces with this new model are given.

Theoretical modeling of cutting temperature in high-speed end milling process for die/mold machining

A parametric model of cutting temperature generated in end milling process is developed according to the thermal mechanism of end milling as an intermittent operation, which periodically repeats the cycle of heating under cutting and cooling under non-cutting. It shows that cutting speed and the tool-workpiece engagement condition are determinative for tool temperature in the operation. The suggested model was investigated by tests of AlTiN coated endmill machining hardened die steel JIS SKD61, where cutting temperature on the flank face of tool was measured with an optical fiber type radiation thermometer. Experimental results show that the tendency of cutting temperature to increase with cutting speed and engagement angle is intensified with the progressing tool wear.

Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Laser Milling Assisted with Jet Electrochemical Machining

In laser milling assisted with jet electrochemical machining(LMAJECM),the source of energy is a pulsed laser beam aligned coaxially with a jet of electrolyte,which focuses optical energy on the surface of workpiece.The impact of jet of electrolyte develops a state-of-art work to perform operations such as electrolytic etching,effective cooling,and transportation of debris.Therefore,a special jet cell is designed to obtain stable jet as to be a kind of noncontact tool,i.e.,electrode.According to the theoretical model of on-off pulse time process,laser machining and electrolytic anodization are simulated by finite element analysis(FEA)method.Grooves on a 0.5mm thick 321 stainless steel sheet produced by LMAJECM is performed with pulsed Nd:YAG laser at the second harmonic wavelength.Compared with laser milling under ambient atmosphere conditions,the recast layer and burrs are effectively diminished.And the accuracy of depth is dedicated to laser milling,whilst that of width is dominated by jet electrochemical machining.It is demonstrated that LMAJECM can be a highly potential approach for fabricating 3-D micro components.

Machining Parameters Optimization of Multi-Pass Face Milling Using a Chaotic Imperialist Competitive Algorithm with an Efficient Constraint-Handling Mechanism

The selection of machining parameters directly affects the production time,quality,cost,and other process performance measures for multi-pass milling.Optimization of machining parameters is of great significance.However,it is a nonlinear constrained optimization problem,which is very difficult to obtain satisfactory solutions by traditional optimization methods.A new optimization technique combined chaotic operator and imperialist competitive algorithm(ICA)is proposed to solve this problem.The ICA simulates the competition between the empires.It is a population-based meta-heuristic algorithm for unconstrained optimization problems.Imperialist development operator based on chaotic sequence is introduced to improve the local search of ICA,while constraints handling mechanism is introduced and an imperialist-colony transformation policy is established.The improved ICA is called chaotic imperialist competitive algorithm(CICA).A case study of optimizing machining parameters for multi-pass face milling operations is presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.The case is to optimize parameters such as speed,feed,and depth of cut in each pass have yielded a minimum total product ion cost.The depth of cut of optimal strategy obtained by CICA are 4 mm,3 mm,1 mm for rough cutting pass 1,rough cutting pass 1 and finish cutting pass,respectively.The cost for each pass are$0.5366 US,$0.4473 US and$0.3738 US.The optimal solution of CICA for various strategies with at=8 mm is$1.3576 US.The results obtained with the proposed schemes are better than those of previous work.This shows the superior performance of CICA in solving such problems.Finally,optimization of cutting strategy when the width of workpiece no smaller than the diameter of cutter is discussed.Conclusion can be drawn that larger tool diameter and row spacing should be chosen to increase cutting efficiency.

Heat regulating strategy in numerical control end milling for hard metal machining

The trend in die/mold manufacturing at present is towards the hard machining at high speed to replace the electron dis- charge machining. Failure forms of the AlTiN-coated micro-grain carbide endmill when used for the machining of JIS SKD61 (HRC 53), a widely used material in die/mold manufacturing, are investigated. The endmill shows a characteristic that tool life decreases greatly due to the chipping when overload occurs or the rapid increase of wear when over-heat accumulation in cutting edges. As a consequence of the investigation, a strategy to regulate heat generation in the end milling process is proposed. This is accomplished by controlling the cutting arc length, i.e. the length of each flute engaging workpiece in a cutting cycle. Case studies on the slot end milling and comer rounding are conducted. The results show that the proposed strategy suggests the optimal tool path as well as the optimal pitch between successive tool paths under the cutting time criterion.

Analysis and correction of the machining errors of small plastic helical gears by ball-end milling

Many small-size precise plastic helical involutes gears are used in electrical appliances to transmit rotary movements con- tinuously and smoothly. Ball-end milling is an effective method for trial manufacture or small batch production of this type of gear, but the precision of the gear is usually low. In this research, the main sources of the errors of the gear, machining errors of the tooth profile and trace of the gear obtained were analyzed. The correction amounts for these errors are then determined by using a CNC gear tester. They are used to generate a new 3D-CAD model for gear machining with better nrecision.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF NC MACHINING NONCONVENTIONAL MILLING CUTTERS-FORMING METHOD OF RAKE FACES

How to generate rake faces of nonconventional milling cutters (NCMC) with constant spiral angled and normal rake angled edges on NC machine tools is presented by use of a blunt cup grinder or a cup milling cutter. Motion functions of the NC machining system are mathematically deduced and exam- ed by a experiment. The research will provide theoretical and practical guidance for machining noncon- ventional tools on NC machine tools.

WORKPIECE LOCATING AND POST PROCESSING SYSTEMS ON 6-DOF CNC MILLING MACHINE

A conventional non-computerized numerical control （CNC） machine is updated by mounting a six degree-of-free （DOF） parallel mechanism on it, thus obtaining a new CNC one. The structure of this CNC milling machine is introduced, and the workpiece locating system and the post processing system of the cutter location （CL） data file are analyzed. The new machine has advantages of low costs, simple structure, good rigidity, and high precision. It is easy to be transformed and used to process the workpiece with a complex surface.

Experimental Study on Titanium Alloy Cutting Property and Wear Mechanism with Circular-arc Milling Cutters

Titanium alloy has been applied in the field of aerospace manufacturing for its high specific strength and hardness.Nonetheless,these properties also cause general problems in the machining,such as processing inefficiency,serious wear,poor workpiece face quality,etc.Aiming at the above problems,this paper carried out a comparative experimental study on titanium alloy milling based on the CAMCand BEMC.The variation law of cutting force and wear morphology of the two tools were obtained,and the wear mechanism and the effect of wear on machining quality were analyzed.The conclusion is that in contrast with BEMC,under the action of cutting thickness thinning mechanism,the force of CAMC was less,and its fluctuation was more stable.The flank wear was uniform and near the cutting edge,and the wear rate was slower.In the early period,the wear mechanism of CAMC was mainly adhesion.Gradually,oxidative wear also occurred with milling.Furthermore,the surface residual height of CAMC was lower.There is no obvious peak and trough accompanied by fewer surface defects.

A New Dynamics Analysis Model for Five-Axis Machining of Curved Surface Based on Dimension Reduction and Mapping

The equipment used in various fields contains an increasing number of parts with curved surfaces of increasing size.Five-axis computer numerical control(CNC)milling is the main parts machining method,while dynamics analysis has always been a research hotspot.The cutting conditions determined by the cutter axis,tool path,and workpiece geometry are complex and changeable,which has made dynamics research a major challenge.For this reason,this paper introduces the innovative idea of applying dimension reduction and mapping to the five-axis machining of curved surfaces,and proposes an efficient dynamics analysis model.To simplify the research object,the cutter position points along the tool path were discretized into inclined plane five-axis machining.The cutter dip angle and feed deflection angle were used to define the spatial position relationship in five-axis machining.These were then taken as the new base variables to construct an abstract two-dimensional space and establish the mapping relationship between the cutter position point and space point sets to further simplify the dimensions of the research object.Based on the in-cut cutting edge solved by the space limitation method,the dynamics of the inclined plane five-axis machining unit were studied,and the results were uniformly stored in the abstract space to produce a database.Finally,the prediction of the milling force and vibration state along the tool path became a data extraction process that significantly improved efficiency.Two experiments were also conducted which proved the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed dynamics analysis model.This study has great potential for the online synchronization of intelligent machining of large surfaces.

Use of Discrete Wavelet Features and Support Vector Machine for Fault Diagnosis of Face Milling Tool

This paper presents the fault diagnosis of face milling tool based on machine learning approach.While machining,spindle vibration signals in feed direction under healthy and faulty conditions of the milling tool are acquired.A set of discrete wavelet features is extracted from the vibration signals using discrete wavelet transform(DWT)technique.The decision tree technique is used to select significant features out of all extracted wavelet features.C-support vector classification(C-SVC)andν-support vector classification(ν-SVC)models with different kernel functions of support vector machine(SVM)are used to study and classify the tool condition based on selected features.From the results obtained,C-SVC is the best model thanν-SVC and it can be able to give 94.5%classification accuracy for face milling of special steel alloy 42CrMo4.

Milling Machinability of TiC Particle and TiB Whisker Hybrid Reinforced Titanium Matrix Composites

The milling machinabilities of titanium matrix composites were comprehensively evaluated to provide a theoretical basis for cutting parameter determination. Polycrystalline diamond （PCD） tools with different grain sizes and geometries, and carbide tools with and without coatings were used in the experiments. Milling forces, milling temperatures, tool lifetimes, tool wear, and machined surface integrities were investigated. The PCD tool required a primary cutting force 15 % smaller than that of the carbide tool, while the uncoated carbide tool required a primary cutting force 10% higher than that of the TiA1N-eoated tool. A cutting force of 300 N per millimeter of the cutting edge （300 N/mm） was measured. This caused excessive tool chipping. The cutting temperature of the PCD tool was 20%-30% lower than that of the carbide tool, while that of the TiA1N-coated tool was 12% lower than that of the uncoated carbide tool. The cutting temperatures produced when using water-based cooling and minimal quantity lubrication （MQL） were reduced by 100 ~C and 200 ~C, compared with those recorded with dry cutting, respectively. In general, the PCD tool lifetimes were 2--3 times longer than the carbide tool lifetimes. The roughness Ra of the machined surface was less than 0.6μm, and the depth of the machined surface hardened layer was in the range of 0.15-0.25 mm for all of the PCD tools before a flank wear land of 0.2 mm was reached. The PCD tool with a 0.8 mm tool nose radius, 0% rake angle, 10% flank angle, and grain size of （30＋2） μm exhibited the best cutting performance. For this specific tool, a lifetime of 16 rain can be expected.

DYNAMICS ANALYSIS OF SPECIAL STRUCTURE OF MILLING-HEAD MACHINE TOOL

The milling-head machine tool is a sophisticated and high-quality machine tool of which the spindle system is made up of special multi-element structure. Two special mechanical configurations make the cutting performance of the machine tool decline. One is the milling head spindle supported on two sets of complex bearings. The mechanical dynamic rigidity of milling head structure is researched on designed digital prototype with finite element analysis（FEA） and modal synthesis analysis （ MSA ） for identifying the weak structures. The other is the ram structure hanging on milling head. The structure is researched to get dynamic performance on cutting at different ram extending positions. The analysis results on spindle and ram are used to improve the mechanical configurations and structure in design. The machine tool is built up with modified structure and gets better dynamic rigidity than it was before.

Electrical discharge and arc milling with automatic tracking of optimal flushing direction:A novel high-efficiency compound machining method

The arc milling method has the advantages of high machining efficiency and low cost and is independent of the strength and hardness of machined materials.However,frequent electrode back-offs and the risk of workpiece burning may occur if erosion products are not removed promptly.In this study,it was found that the flushing method of the working medium had a significant impact on the machining performance of arc milling.Based on this,a novel highefficiency compound machining method of electrical discharge and arc milling with automatic tracking of the optimal flushing direction was proposed.An automatic tracking optimizer for external working medium injection was designed to determine the optimal external flushing direction according to the feed direction.The influence of flushing methods,working mediums,and machining parameters on the machining efficiency,tool electrode wear rate,machining error,and surface integrity of titanium alloys were investigated.The results indicated that better machining performance and environmental friendliness were achieved using the compound flushing method of outer compressed air and inner deionized water.Additionally,the automatic tracking flushing method in the opposite direction of the feed direction showed superior results compared to other directions.The material removal rate with the opposite direction injection could be increased up to 1.62 times that of the same direction,and the relative electrode wear rate could be reduced by 14.76%.This novel method has broad application prospects for machining parts with difficult-to-cut materials in aerospace and military industries.

Online tool-wear measurement of small-diameter end mills based on machine vision

The objective of this study was to develop an online tool-wear-measurement scheme for small diameter end-mills based on machine vision to increase tool life and the production efficiency. The geometrical features of wear zone of each end mill were analyzed, and three tool wear criterions of small-diameter end mills were defined. With the uEye camera, macro lens and 3-axis micro milling machine, it was proved the feasibility of measuring flank wear with the milling tests on a 45# steel workpiece. The design of experiment （DOE） showed that Vc was the most remarkable effect factor for the flank wear of small-diameter end mill. The wear curve of the experiments of milling was very similar to the Taylor curve.

TK 5440 CNC VERTICAL BORING AND MILLING MACHINE

This machine tool produced by theQinchuan Machine Tool Worksincorporates all the commonmachining functions, and is equipped withan advanced CNC system. It can continuouslyfinish multiple working procedures such asdrilling, milling, boring, reaming and tappingwithin one clamping. Not only is it universaland efficient, but also it can machinecomplicated parts which cannot be machinedon general universal machines, such as variouskinds of precision molds, plates, disks,

NOVEL METHOD FOR DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION OF STABILITY IN HIGH-SPEED MILLING SYSTEM

Considering the self-excited and forced vibrations in high-speed milling processes, a novel method for dynamic optimization of system stability is used to determine the cutting parameters and structural parameters by increasing the chatter free material removal rate （CF-MRR） and surface finish. The method is hased on the theory of the chatter stability and the semi-bandwidth of the resonant region. The objective function of the method is material removal rate（MRR）,the constraints are chatter stability and surface finish, and the optimizing variables are cutting and structural parameters. The optimization procedure is stated. The method is applied to a milling system and CF-MRR is increased 18.86%. It is shown that the influences of the chatter stability and the resonance are simultaneously considered in the dynamic optimization of the milling system for increasing CF-MRR and the surface finish.

INFLUENCE OF TOOL HELIX ANGLE ON STABILITY IN HIGH-SPEED MILLING PROCESS

An integrated dynamic model considering the influence of the helix angle is developed through dividing the cutting process into three cutting processes： uninterrupted, entry, and exit cutting processes. The semi-discretized technique is used to approximate the finite dimensional Floquet transition matrix of the dynamic control equation to determine the stability of milling process. The stability charts for helix mills are obtained. Results show that the helix angle plays an important role in the stability of milling process. The stability regions with helix angle become larger than those without helix angle. Some ＂islands＂ are presented in the stability charts, and ＂island＂ locations are determined by the relation between the axial depth of cut and the helix pitch. The ＂islands＂ are connected by the ＂bridge＂ by the effects of entry and exit cutting processes. The theoretical results are validated by milling experiments.