Study on tool wear estimation for small diameter ball end mill milling

Abstract

This paper introduces results that verify a method for estimating tool wear in three-dimensional cutting by an air turbine spindle with a rotational speed control system. As the steady-state wear progresses, the correlation between the change in supply pressure during milling and tool wear is high, and the effectiveness of in-process tool wear estimation was clarified. This paper aimed to verify the effectiveness of tool wear estimation in three-dimensional cutting using a small-diameter ball end mill. For that purpose, the relationship between the change in supply pressure during milling and tool wear was verified from the cutting force. The results showed that the relationship between supply pressure and tool wear is influenced by the cutting force in the rotating direction. If the cutting point is constant, in-process tool wear estimation is possible even in three-dimensional cutting.