High performance 5-axis milling of complex sculptured surfaces

Abstract

Five-axis milling processes are used widely in various industries such as aerospace, die-mold and biomedical industries where surface quality and integrity is important and the production tolerances are very tight. Therefore, improving surface quality and integrity without sacrificing productivity is crucial in these industries. Improvements in CAD/CAM, cutting tool and the machine tool technologies allow the production of high precision parts with less cycle times. In order to obtain desired quality and productivity, process parameters such as feedrate, spindle speed, axial and radial depth of cut have to be selected appropriately. Most of the time, selection criterion is based on engineering expertise or trial and error methods. Besides, to prevent the cutter or the machine to be damaged, machining parameters are selected conservatively, and therefore, virtual machining simulation for milling processes is an increasing demand before the production of the free-form surfaces.