DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATION SYSTEM FOR SURFACE TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES IN 5-AXIS CNC MACHINING PROCESS

摘要

Finish milling with a ball end mill is the key process in manufacturing high precision and complex parts such as dies and molds. Due to complexity of the milling process, it is difficult to evaluate the surface micro characteristics such as surface topographic features and roughness of machined workpieces, which necessitates the simulation of the process. In this area, the existing related simulation researches mainly focus on scallop height, and few has presented a whole picture of micro characteristics of milled surfaces. This paper develops a comprehensive simulation system based on Z-map model for predicting surface topographic features and roughness formed in the 5-axis CNC milling process. Experiments are also carried out to study the milling process and to verify the simulation results. The difference between the simulation and the experiment results is discussed.