An optimization method of tool-path parameters for curved surface by construction of cutter location mesh units

Abstract

Curved surface parts are widely used in industrial applications and its machining is still a major problem because of the continuously geometric feature variation. When the processing condition is determined, the machining quality and efficiency of curved surface are affected directly by the generation of tool-path, especially by the selection of tool-path parameters including cutting step length and cutting path interval. However, the common selection method for cutting step length and cutting path interval is usually conservative in the tool-path planning process for curved surface parts, so as to affect the machining efficiency. In this way, an optimization method of tool-path parameters for curved surface by the construction of cutter location mesh units is proposed. Based on the cutter location points obtained by constant scallop-height method, the cutter location mesh units are constructed by optimizing cutting step length and cutting path interval, and then the nodes of the cutter location mesh units are taken as the final cutter location points. Take a saddle surface workpiece as an example, the results of simulation and experiment show that the tool-path with the optimized cutting step length and cutting path interval can not only maintain the machining quality but also improve the machining efficiency obviously. These research achievements are of vital importance in tool-path planning for realizing high-quality and high-efficient machining for the curved surface parts.