Modeling, simulation, and optimization of five-axis milling processes

The five-axis milling is widely applied to complex surface machining. When cutting forces of milling processes increase, the consequent workpiece and tool deflections may result in poor machining quality and high processing cost. There are a lot of researches on three-axis milling processes simulation, but very few about five-axis milling. To solve these disadvantages, this paper presents an integrated system containing modeling, simulation, and optimization of five-axis milling processes. The system has three major applications: (1) simulation verification of milling processes, (2) cutting forces prediction, and (3) cutting parameters (feedrate) optimization. The material removal process simulation used for verifying the five-axis milling is based on the three-dexel (depth element) model, and the cutter-workpiece engagement regions are extracted from the geometric model. According to the extracted cutter-workpiece engagement regions, the instantaneous cutting forces could be predicted. The feedrate is off-line modified for balancing the given maximum or the reference cutting forces with the predicted cutting forces on different machining steps. The developed system is validated experimentally to show that the modeling, simulation, and optimization methods could improve the accuracy and efficiency of five-axis milling processes.