Swept area modeling and cutter wear study in turn-milling

Abstract

In turn-milling machining, we found the cutter wear concentrated on a small section around the corner of the cutter and affect the cutter life. In this paper, the idea of swept area is proposed firstly based on the analyses for cutter wear, and it can indicate the cutter wear. Balance of swept area will lead to balanced wear along cutting edge, and expressions of swept areas of infinitesimal elements on the cutting edge are given. Secondly, the cutting depth and cutting angle, which are the key parameters in calculating the swept area, are analyzed based on different contact situations between the cutter and workpiece, and the detailed calculating method is given. Then, the optimization model to balance swept areas along the cutting edge is established, and the cutting parameters including cutter offset and machining length are optimized. Finally, the orthogonal turn-milling machining experiments with different cutting parameters are conducted; the result shows that turn-milling with optimized parameters can actually balance the cutter wear and increase the cutter life.