Research on the Influence of Cutting Condition on the Surface Microstruct ure of Ultra-thin Wall Parts in Ultrasonic Vibration Cutting

In many fields of high-tech industry the ultra-t hi n wall parts are employed. In this paper the experiments were carried out to dis cuss the surface microstructure of the camera’s guided drawtube by applying ult rasonic vibration cutting device to the traditional lathe. The influence rule of the cutting condition on the surface roughness was put forward, which was drawn by comparing the ultrasonic cutting with the common cutting by use of the cemen ted carbide tool and the polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool. The test results sh owed that the ultrasonic cutting performs better than the common cutting in the same condition. According to the test results analyzing, the surface characteriz ation is influenced clearly by the rigidity of the acoustic system and the machi ne tool, as well the setting height of the tool tip. Otherwise, the dense regula r low frequency vibration ripples will be scraped on the machined surface. When the tool tip is set higher than the rotating center of the work piece by three t imes of the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration, the vibration ripples behave alig ht; they turn light and shade alternatively when the tool tip is lower than the rotating center of the work piece by three times of the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration. According to the test result analyzing, the following conclusions are put forward: 1) The surface roughness in ultrasonic cutting is better than that in common cutting. Under a one third critical cutting velocity, the value of th e surface roughness in ultrasonic cutting rise slightly along with the cutting v elocity, while in common cutting it decreases contrast to the cutting velocity; the curves of the surface roughness in ultrasonic cutting and common cutting see m to be alike, both increase along with the feed rate and the cutting depth, but the value in ultrasonic cutting is smaller in the same condition.2) The influen ce of the coolant on the surface roughness cannot be ignored. The kerosene can b e employed to improve the surface roughness in ultrasonic machining.3) In ultras onic cutting process of aluminum alloy ultra-thin wall work piece, the PCD tool performs better than the cemented carbide tools.4) The vibration ripples result from the not enough rigidity of the acoustic system and the improper setting he ight of the tool tip. The departure of the tool tip from the rotating center of the work piece to some extent causes the vibration ripples on the machined surfa ce.

Accurate Evaluation of Free-form Surface Profile Error Based on Quasi Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm and Surface Subdivision

Although significant progress has been made in precision machining of free-form surfaces recently, inspection of such surfaces remains a difficult problem. In order to solve the problem that no specific standards for the verification of free-form surface profile are available, the profile parameters of free-form surface are proposed by referring to ISO standards regarding form tolerances and considering its complexity and non-rotational symmetry. Non-uniform rational basis spline（NURBS） for describing free-form surface is formulated. Crucial issues in surface inspection and profile error verification are localization between the design coordinate system（DCS） and measurement coordinate system（MCS） for searching the closest points on the design model corresponding to measured points. A quasi particle swarm optimization（QPSO） is proposed to search the transformation parameters to implement localization between DCS and MCS. Surface subdivide method which does the searching in a recursively reduced range of the parameters u and v of the NURBS design model is developed to find the closest points. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, the design model is generated by NURBS and the measurement data of simulation example are generated by transforming the design model to arbitrary position and orientation, and the parts are machined based on the design model and are measured on CMM. The profile errors of simulation example and actual parts are calculated by the proposed method. The results verify that the evaluation precision of freeform surface profile error by the proposed method is higher 10%-22% than that by CMM software. The proposed method deals with the hard problem that it has a lower precision in profile error evaluation of free-form surface.

A model of deformation of thin-wall surface parts during milling machining process

A three-dimensional finite element model was established for the milling of thin-walled parts. The physical model of the milling of the part was established using the AdvantEdge FEM software as the platform. The aluminum alloy impeller was designated as the object to be processed and the boundary conditions which met the actual machining were set. Through the solution, the physical quantities such as the three-way cutting force, the tool temperature, and the tool stress were obtained, and the calculation of the elastic deformation of the thin-walled blade of the free-form surface at the contact points between the tool and the workpiece was realized. The elastic deformation law of the thin-walled blade was then predicted. The results show that the maximum deviation between the predicted value and the actual measured machining value of the elastic deformation was 26.055 μm; the minimum deviation was 2.011 μm, with the average deviation being 10.154 μm. This shows that the prediction is in close agreement with the actual result.

Parametric design of a part with free-form surfaces

3D solid models for parts with regular-form surfaces (PRFSs) are effectively generated using traditional parametric design techniques. A new model is obtained by changing some parameters defining the model. The parts with free-form surfaces (PFFSs), however, cannot be defined by several parameters. Usually they are defined by some geometric elements like profile curves. The traditional parametric design approaches have not easily dealt with the PFFSs. A method for generating a solid model and an engineering drawing for PFFSs is proposed in this paper: First, the new profiles are generated from input point data. Second, the profile information is extracted from the existing model. Last, the old profiles are replaced with the new profiles. This method can preserve the associative information of the existing model and automatically generate the drawing including views, dimen- sions, and annotations. The proposed method has been implemented using a commercial CAD/CAM system, Unigraphics, and API functions written in C-language, and were applied to the blades of a turbine generator. Some illustrative examples are pro- vided in order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Redesigned Surface Based Machining Strategy and Method in Peripheral Milling of Thin-walled Parts

Currently, simultaneously ensuring the machining accuracy and efficiency of thin-walled structures especially high performance parts still remains a challenge. Existing compensating methods are mainly focusing on 3-aixs machining, which sometimes only take one given point as the compensative point at each given cutter location. This paper presents a redesigned surface based machining strategy for peripheral milling of thin-walled parts. Based on an improved cutting force/heat model and finite element method（FEM） simulation environment, a deflection error prediction model, which takes sequence of cutter contact lines as compensation targets, is established. And an iterative algorithm is presented to determine feasible cutter axis positions. The final redesigned surface is subsequently generated by skinning all discrete cutter axis vectors after compensating by using the proposed algorithm. The proposed machining strategy incorporates the thermo-mechanical coupled effect in deflection prediction, and is also validated with flank milling experiment by using five-axis machine tool. At the same time, the deformation error is detected by using three-coordinate measuring machine. Error prediction values and experimental results indicate that they have a good consistency and the proposed approach is able to significantly reduce the dimension error under the same machining conditions compared with conventional methods. The proposed machining strategy has potential in high-efficiency precision machining of thin-walled parts.

An automatic grid generation approach over free-form surface for architectural design

An essential step for the realization of free-form surface structures is to create an efficient structural gird that satisfies not only the architectural aesthetics,but also the structural performance.Employing the main stress trajectories as the representation of force flows on a free-form surface,an automatic grid generation approach is proposed for the architectural design.The algorithm automatically plots the main stress trajectories on a 3D free-form surface,and adopts a modified advancing front meshing technique to generate the structural grid.Based on the proposed algorithm,an automatic grid generator named "St-Surmesh" is developed for the practical architectural design of free-form surface structure.The surface geometry of one of the Sun Valleys in Expo Axis for the Expo Shanghai 2010 is selected as a numerical example for validating the proposed approach.Comparative studies are performed to demonstrate how different structural grids affect the design of a free-form surface structure.

Study of the Contact Force in Free-form Surfaces Compliant EDM Polishing by Robot

With an elastic negative pole being driven by ultra so nic vibration and being moved along the surface of work-piece compliantly by ro bot, a new kind of effective EDM, the compliant EDM, cuts the electrically condu ctive materials away and polishes work-piece of free-form surface. The study o f the contact force between the end of polishing tool and the surface of work-p iece is the key for the compliant EDM to study its cutting mechanism and to make better use of it. This paper makes a model for the contact force and verifies i t by experiments and simulation based on the theory of elastic body kinetics and dynamic stress concentration. The research work shows that this contact force i s caused by both the electrical impulsion of EDM and the mechanical force of ult rasonic vibration, the discharge frequency of compliant EDM has a much more clos er connection with the vibration frequency of polishing tool rather than the fre quency of ultrasonic vibration.

DISCRETIZATION APPROACH USING RAY-TESTING MODEL IN PARTING LINE AND PARTING SURFACE GENERATION

Surface classification, 3D parting line, parting surface generation and demoldability analysis which is helpful to select optimal parting direction and optimal parting line are involved in auto-matic cavity design based on the my-testing model. A new ray-testing approach is presented to classify the part surfaces to core/cavity surfaces and undercut surfaces by automatic identifying the visibility of surfaces. A simple, direct and efficient algorithm to identify surface visibility is developed. The algorithm is robust and adapted to rather complicated geometry, so it is valuable in computer-aided mold design systems. To validate the efficiency of the approach, an experimental program is implemented. Case studies show that the approach is practical and valuable in automatic parting line and parting surface generation.

ADAPTIVE MEASUREMENT METHOD BASED ON CHANGING-CURVATURE FOR UNKNOWN FREE-FORM SURFACE

Current measurement method for unknown free-form surface has low efficiency.To acquire given precision, a lot of null points are measured. Based on change surface curvature, anew measurement planning is put forward. Sample step is evaluated from the change curvature and thelocally-bounded character of extrapolating curve. Two coefficients, maximum error coefficient andlocal camber coefficient, are used to optimize sampling step. The first coefficient is computed toavoid sampling-point exceeding the measurement range and the second control sampling precision.Compared with the other methods, the proposed planning method can reduce the number of themeasuring-point efficiently for the given precision. Measuring point distributes adaptively by thechange surface curvature. The method can be applied to improve measurement efficiency and accuracy.

NEW VISUAL METHOD FOR FREE-FORM SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION

A new method is put forward combining computer vision with computer aidedgeometric design (CAGD) to resolve the problem of free-form surface reconstruction. The surface isfirst subdivided into N-sided Gregory patches, and a stereo algorithm is used to reconstruct theboundary curves. Then, the cross boundary tangent vectors are computed through reflectance analysis.At last, the whole surface can be reconstructed jointing these patches with G^1 continuity(tangentcontinuity). Examples on synthetic images are given.

Influences of material parameters on deep drawing of thin-walled hemispheric surface part

During deep drawing process,the material parameters of blank have a significant effect on the quality of the drawn part and the determination of process parameters. Here,a 3D finite element model is developed for the deep drawing process of a thin-walled hemispheric surface part. Then the influences of material parameters including hardening exponent n,yield stress σs and elastic modulus E on the process are investigated by simulation. The results show that the effects of n and σs on punch force,thickness variation and equivalent strain are more notable. The maximum equivalent plastic strain occurs outside the die corner. However,when the value of n is 0.03 or σs is smaller than 120 MPa,higher equivalent plastic strain occurs at ball top.

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY FOR INJECTION MOLD PARTING SURFACE BASED ON CASES AND KNOWLEDGE

On the basis of the comprehensive analysis about the automatic generation of the injection mold parting surface, the parting surface design method which introduces knowledge and case-based reasoning （CBR） into the computer-aided design is described by combining with the actual characteristic in injection mold design, and the design process of case-based reasoning method is also given. A case library including the information of parting surface is built with the index of main shape features, The automatic design of the mold parting surface is realized combined with the forward-reasoning method and the similarity solution procedure. The rule knowledge library is also founded including the knowledge, principles and experiences for parting surface design. An example is used to show the validity of the method, and the quality and the efficiency of the mold design are improved.

A Ray-Testing Approach to Automatically Identify Surface Visibility in Parting Line Generation

It is critical to identify core/cavity and undercut surfaces of molds in parting line generation. A new Ray-Testing approach is presented to detect these surfaces by identifying the visibility of surfaces. A simple, direct and efficient algorithm to identify surface visibility is developed. Case studies show that the approach is practical and valuable in automated parting line generation.

Research on the Fault Monitoring System in Free-form Surface CNC Machining Based on Wavelet Analysis

Carrying out experiments and researches on tool bre ak age and undercut of work-piece of free-form surface by using wavelet analysis, both the fault features can be extracted in a special frequency segment of wave let decompose. According to the feature of transient fault, the author proposes for the first time the automatic determination technology of the threshold by us e of the adaptive filter characteristic of wavelet transform. Based on profound researches on steady fault feature, this dissertation makes an effective token o f steady fault feature by using wavelet energy method, and proposes the new idea to identify cut-in case and cut-out case, thereby successfully gives an uniqu e description quantitatively on the characterization of the variation of fault a nd cutting condition in the monitoring system.

Real-time accurate Free-Form Deformation in terms of triangular Bézier surfaces

We implemented accurate FFD in terms of triangular Bezier surfaces as matrix multiplications in CUDA and rendered them via OpenGL. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is more efficient than the previous GPU acceleration algorithm and tessel- lation shader algorithms.

Tool-path planning for free-form surface high-speed high-resolution machining using torus cutter

In CNC machining, two essential components decide the accuracy and machining time for a sculptured surface: one is the step-size interval, the other is the tool-path interval. Due to the limitation of the conventional method for calculating the tool-path interval, it cannot satisfy the machining requirement for high-speed and high-resolution machining. Accordingly, for high-speed and high-resolution machining, the current study proposes a new tool-path interval algorithm, plus a variable step-size algorithm for NURBS. Furthermore, a new type cutter, which can improve the cutting efficiency, is investigated in the paper. The transversal equation of the torus cutter onto the flat plan is given in this paper. The tool-path interval is calculated with the transversal equation and the proposed algorithm. The illustrated example shows that the redundant tool paths can be reduced because an accurate tool-path interval could be calculated.

Tool selection and collision-free in 5-axis numerical control machining of free-form surfaces

The methodology of 5-axis cutter selection to avert collision for free-form surface machining by flat-end cutters is presented. The combination of different cutters is adopt aiming at short machining time and high precision. The optimal small cutter is determined based on the geometric information of the points where a cutter most probably collide with the machined surface. Several larger cutters are selected to machine the surface in order to find the interference-free area. The difference of machining time for this area between the optimal small cutter and the large cutters is calculated. The functional relationship between the machining time and the radius of a cutter is established, by which the optimal number of cutters is obtained. The combination of cutters, which possesses the minimum overall machining time, is selected as the optimal cutter sizes. A case study has demonstrated the validity of the proposed methodology and algorithms.

A Computer Vision Method for 3D Reconstruction of Curves-Marked Free-Form Surfaces

Visual method is now broadly used in reverse engineering for 3D reconstruction. The traditional computer vision methods are feature-based, i.e., they require that the objects must reveal features owing to geometry or textures. For textureless free-form surfaces, dense feature points are added artificially. In this paper, a new method is put forward combining computer vision with CAGD. The surface is subdivided into N-side Gregory patches using marked curves, and a stereo algorithm is used to reconstruct the curves. Then, the cross boundary tangent vector is computed through reflectance analysis. At last, the whole surface can be reconstructed by jointing these patches with 1Gcontinuity.

A Real-time NURBS Surface Interpolator for 5-axis Surface Machining

A real-time non-uniform rational B-spline （NURBS） surface interpolator is proposed and 5-axis machining method with a flat-end cutter is discussed. With the Taylor expansion and the coordinate transformation, the algorithms of NURBS interpolation, cutter effective machining radius, cutter offsetting and.inverse kinematics are deduced and implemented, respectively. Different from the conventional free-form surface machining, the proposed interpolator can real-time generate the motion commands of computer numerical control （CNC） machines with CC feedrate, rather than that of CL. An example part surface is demonstrated and the results of simulation show that the proposed method can be applied in actual 5-axis surface machining.

Optimization of material removal strategy in milling of thin-walled parts

The optimal material removal strategy can improve a geometric accuracy and surface quality of thin-walled parts such as turbine blades and blisks in high-speed ball end milling.The dominant conception in the material removal represents the persistence of the workpiece cutting stiffness in operation to advance the machining accuracy and machining efficiency.On the basis of theoretical models of cutting stiffness and deformation,finite element method (FEM) is applied to calculate the virtual displacements of the thin-walled part under given virtual loads at the nodes of the discrete surface.With the reference of deformation distribution of the thin-walled part,the milling material removal strategy is optimized to make the best of bracing ability of still uncut material.This material removal method is summarized as the lower stiffness region removed firstly and the higher stiffness region removed next.Analytical and experimental results show the availability,which has been verified by the blade machining test in this work,for thin-walled parts to reduce cutting deformation and meliorate machining quality.