Optimization of the volumetric accuracy of high-speed computer numerical control milling with dynamic quality characteristics

Abstract

This paper used the Taguchi robust method to develop an optimized high-speed computer numerical control (CNC) milling technique that can be used for multi-geometrical shapes. The designed shapes studied included the three basic geometries of rectangle, circle and triangle as the distinct characteristics of the workpiece. To increase the robustness of the manufacturing process, the experiment was designed to consider also the effect of manufacturing noises and to compound them as two extreme conditions for assessing the quality characteristics of the workpiece. The experimental results revealed that, under the ideal function model of volume versus volume, the optimum set of design parameters for the high-speed CNC milling process can reduce the manufacturing variation by 81.97 per cent. In other words, the manufacturing accuracy was improved 5.55 times, a substantial improvement to the robustness of the process. Further, by analysing the variance, it was shown that experimental errors accounted for only 0.0204 per cent. The experiment showed that a good selection and combination of control and noise factors could result in high robustness of the experimental results.