Continuity control method of cutter posture vector for efficient five-axis machining

Abstract

During five-axis machining of impeller, the excessive local interference avoidance leads to inconsistency of cutter posture, low quality of machined surface and increase of processing time. Therefore, in order to improve the efficiency of five-axis machining of impellers, it is necessary to minimize the cutter posture changes and create a continuous tool path while avoiding interference. By using an MC-space algorithm for interference avoidance, an MB-spline algorithm for continuous control was intended to create a five-axis machining tool path with excellent surface quality and economic feasibility. A five-axis cutting experiment was performed to verify the effectiveness of the continuity control. The result shows that the surface shape with continuous method is greatly improved, and the surface roughness is generally favorable. Consequently, the effectiveness of the suggested method is verified by identifying the improvement of efficiency of five-axis machining of an impeller in aspects of surface quality and machining time.