Modelling of turn-milled surfaces

In tribological systems, the surface topography is influencing the friction and wear behaviour and therefore the component lifetime. These functional surfaces can be found for example in roller bearings, where a lubricating property between rolling elements affects the functionality. Currently, the grinding process is mainly used for finishing the rolling elements. Compared to grinding, the turn-milling process is able to modify the machined surface structure in a deterministic way. Furthermore, this process can be driven under dry conditions, which causes an ecological benefit. The industrial relevance of turn-milling forces a pre-process modelling of the surface structure concerning the turn-milling strategy and process parameters. This article presents opportunities to predict textured surfaces by the tangential and orthogonal turn-milling process. An analytical approach was written in Matlab and connected with Microsoft Visual Studio Express. The results were examined in relation to experimental manufactured surfaces. Thus, conclusions for the structuring of functional surfaces by turn milling can be achieved to enhance the process in an analytical way. Furthermore, a numerical approach is introduced, which enlarges the analytical model by means of the implementation of the dynamic behaviour of the workpiece and the tool.