Lightweight extrusion profiles with reinforcement elements are promising news in the domain of
lightweight construction. The machining of them suffers from several problems: Aside from the
question of choosing a suitable tool, feed rate, and milling strategy, an excessive rise in temperature
could lead to stress and even a distortion due to the differing thermal expansion of the
reinforcement material and the surrounding matrix material. A simulation of the milling process
could, in addition to force and collision calculations, recognize this case before manufacturing.
For certain milling applications like seal surfaces, a certain roughness of the manufactured surface
is necessary. In many other cases, a smooth surface of very high quality is desirable. Available
simulation systems usually completely lack the simulation of dynamic effects, which have a great
effect on the final surface quality, and therefore are not able to predict the resulting surface quality.
In this paper simulation methods are presented that are capable of simulating the dynamic behavior
of the tool in the milling process and the resulting flank and ground surface structures.
Additionally, a fast temperature simulation for heterogeneous workpieces with reinforcement
elements, which is based on the finite difference method and cellular automata, is introduced.
In-process control of ground surface quality related to thermal distribution between diamond grain and workpiece
