Instantaneous cutting force model considering the material structural characteristics and dynamic variations in the entry and exit angles during end milling of the aluminum honeycomb core

Abstract

The structural characteristics of the material and dynamic changes in the entry and exit angles are of great significance for the accurate prediction of the cutting force during milling of the aluminum honeycomb core. In this study, an instantaneous cutting force prediction model for the aluminum honeycomb core that comprehensively considers the porous structural characteristics of the material and dynamic changes in the entry and exit angles during the machining process was developed. A unified structural model for an aluminum honeycomb core with a regular hexagonal cell structure and excellent mechanical property was established. Based on the structural characteristics of the aluminum honeycomb core, three types of thin-walled edges were considered, and the dynamic changes in their entry and exit angles were investigated by considering the cutter radius, cutting width, honeycomb core wall thickness, and relative position between the cutter and thin-walled edge. An orthogonal-to-oblique cutting transformation approach that can effectively reflect the cutting characteristics of the material was adopted to calibrate the cutting force coefficients in which cutting experiments using different cutter geometries and parameters were conducted. The aluminum honeycomb core was fixed using green, high-efficiency cryogenic liquid nitrogen. To verify the reliability of the proposed model, a series of milling experiments were carried out and the experimental and simulation results were compared. It was found that the simulated cutting force is highly consistent with the experimental result. The proposed model can accurately predict the peak values of the cutting force in the x, y, and z directions, with an average prediction error of less than 10%.