Improving cutter life and cutting efficiency of five-axis plunge milling by simulation and tool path regeneration

摘要

A new method is proposed to improve cutter life and cutting efficiency of five-axis plunge milling by solving two problems during plunge milling processes. First, the increase of radial depth often happens at the end of plunging phase, which will lead to large increase of cutting force. Second, friction between the cutter and the component always exists during the rising phase and low rising feedrate has to be used. Two suggestions, gradually decreasing the plunge depth and rising without engagement, are given by cutter companies to improve the cutter life and cutting efficiency. It is easy to realize them in three-axis plunge milling. However, in five-axis plunge milling, it is difficult because of the complexity of the material removing process. In this paper, a method to realize the above suggestions for five-axis plunge milling was proposed with the help of simulation. The tool path optimization method was validated by experiments and they showed that the cutter life and cutting efficiency were both improved.