Modeling and experimental validation of cutting forces in five-axis ball-end milling based on true tooth trajectory

• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-014-6548-2
• Publication Date: 2014-12-05T07:49:06Z
• Authors: Gaiyun He; Wenkui Ma; Guanmin Yu; Ailei Lang
• Keywords: Ball (mathematics); End milling; Milling cutter

The accurate prediction of cutting forces plays an important role in high performance cutting of free-form surfaces which are widely used in automotive, die/mold, and aerospace industries. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel model of cutting forces in five-axis ball-end milling based on true tooth trajectory. The model can be implemented in three steps. First, the representation of the five-axis machine configuration and kinematic transformations is given as the basis of the geometry analysis of five-axis milling operations. Second, through analysis of the true tooth trajectories during the five-axis ball-end milling process, the bisection method can be applied to calculate the true instantaneous undeformed chip thickness. Meanwhile, the start and exit rotation immersion angles and the two limit axial positions can be modeled to determine the exact engagement region. Finally, a method to identify cutting force coefficients is proposed, and the model is then utilized to predict the cutting forces. All experiments carry out under different cutting parameters and cutter positions to prove its effectiveness. Comparisons of the predicted cutting forces and the experimental results show the reliability of the proposed model.