Post-processing technology of the five-axis additive-subtractive composite manufacturing machine tool

A post-processing technology is crucial in manufacturing complex curved surface parts as a bridge between CAD/CAM and machine manufacturing. Unlike the traditional five-axis machine tool, the five-axis additive-subtractive composite manufacturing machine tool combines additive and subtractive manufacturing. The previous studies focused on the tool vector control of five-axis laser additive manufacturing through the toolpath of five-axis helical milling. Compared with previous studies, this study combines additive and subtractive processes to examine the post-processing technology to coordinate and control the contour accuracy of forming parts in the composite manufacturing. First, the basic kinematic model of the five-axis additive-subtractive composite manufacturing machine tool is constructed on the basis of the inverse kinematic principle by assuming a laser nozzle coaxial powder feeding head. Second, the reasons for the incoordination of the two process coordinates are analyzed, and the criterion of process coordinate coordination is established on the basis of the five-axis general kinematic model. Finally, a special five-axis additive-subtractive composite post-processing software is developed based on a high-level language and verified by additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, and process coordinate experiments. Experimental results show that the established composite post-processing model can effectively realize the contour accuracy of parts in the additive-subtractive composite manufacturing. This study provides new methods and ideas for the manufacturing accuracy and efficiency of five-axis additive-subtractive composite forming parts, which can broaden the application of thin-walled variable curvature parts through five-axis additive-subtractive composite post-processing technology.