Error compensation in the five-axis flank milling of thin-walled workpieces

Abstract

Five-axis flank milling is the most commonly used processing method in the aviation industry for the machining of thin-walled parts with complex ruled surfaces. During machining, the tool/workpiece deformations caused by the cutting force often lead to surface errors on the machined components that severely affect the accuracy of the machining results. This article presents an iterative compensation strategy to reduce the tool/workpiece deformation-induced surface error during the five-axis flank milling of thin-walled workpieces by modifying the tool tip position and tool axis orientation. This approach can be implemented in four steps. First, a highly integrated cutter-workpiece engagement extraction method is developed for the construction of a flexible cutting force model that can follow changes in the process geometry. Second, the tool/workpiece deformations are predicted by the cantilever beam model and finite element model, respectively. Third, an off-line error compensation scheme is performed at each cutting location of the tool path to obtain the modified tool position. Fourth, the machined surface of the workpiece model is reconstructed, and the compensated machining code, which can be used directly for actual machining, is generated. A case study is presented at the end of this article, and the effectiveness of the present compensation strategy is verified by machining experiments.

A state-of-art review on chatter and geometric errors in thin-wall machining processes

“…The mirror compensation method is the most widely used off-line compensation strategy in previous studies [270][271][272][273]. In the compensation procedure, the local surface profile error is firstly predicted by the prediction model at a given cutting position.…”

Non-uniform machining allowance planning method of thin-walled parts based on the workpiece deformation constraint

“…Altintas et al [5,6] proposed the concept of virtual compensation and presented a mathematical model of error prediction and digital compensation process in the virtual environment before actual processing. Some scholars developed the flexible deformation prediction model to achieve a better prediction accuracy [7][8][9][10]. To solve the problem of the low computational efficiency of the flexible deformation prediction model, Wang et al [11] proposed fast deformation prediction compensation methods, which improved the computational efficiency of the flexible deformation prediction model through fast convergence.…”

Chatter stability prediction of milling considering nonlinearities

“…Many strategies for chatter avoidance have been proposed, such as cutting process optimization, structural dynamics modification through passive and active control. Si and Wang 1 presented an iterative compensation strategy to reduce the tool/workpiece deformation-induced surface error during the five-axis flank milling of thin-walled workpiece. Liu et al 2 proposed a tool inclination method based on the adaption of the cutting force component to guarantee the machined surface finish of the thin-walled workpiece.…”