Process selection and machining allowance allocation for rotational surfaces

Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP) integrates computerized design and manufacturing. An important step in CAPP is to select a sequence of processes for manufacturing a feature and allocate machining allowance for intermediate surfaces. Manufacturing economy, design specification, and process capability affect this decision-making simultaneously. A mathematical model is formulated to identify the best process sequence and allocate machining allowance. A sequential procedure is used to decompose the problem into two phases. First, a shortest path is found over a process flow network. A nonlinear program is then solved to allocate machining allowance for each intermediate surface. A simulated annealing algorithm is developed to improve the sequential heuristic. Computational experiments and a numerical example are used to test and compare the performance of proposed model and algorithms.