5-AXIS FLANK MACHINING SCULPTURED SURFACES BASED ON SIGNED DUPIN INDICATRIX

Abstract

For the purpose of multi-axis flank machining of impellers,a new method for 5-axis flank machining sculptured surfaces with a drum-taper type cutter based on the signed Du- pin indicatrix is presented.As to the cutter with the strictly convex cutting surface,the necessary and sufficient condition for gouge-free 5-axis surface flank machining is proposed, which is that the signed Dupin indicatrix of the cutter is con- tained in the indicatrix of the part surface at the cutting contact point.Moreover,the implementation of gouging detection and correction using the drum-taper type cutter is detailed in the context.For a given scallop height,the paper also provides an approach to calculate the machining strip width.Hereby,the tool path generation procedure with the iso-scallop method is discussed for 5-axis flank milling sculptured surfaces.The test result shows that the machining efficiency of flank milling us- ing drum-taper type cutter is improved by 37.44% comparing with ball end milling at the same scallop height.It suggests that flank machining is an effective means for improving machining efficiency and quality.