Development of the innovative differential tool wear modeling for high-feed milling and its experimental verification

During the high-feed milling process, the vibrations generated by interrupted cutting cause changes in the instantaneous tool posture, as well as in the working angle and the distribution of the thermal stress coupling fields of each tool blade. These changes result in significant differences in the wear distribution of each tool blade. In this research, well-designed experiments for the high-feed milling of titanium alloys were carried out to identify the key factors affecting the differential wear on the milling tool insert blades. A differential tool wear model for the tool blades was developed in order to comprehensively describe the effects of the location error of the blades, the vibrations in the tool posture, and the working angle of each tool blade. The wear status of the milling tool was simulated based on the dynamic tool trajectories and postures derived by the model, and the entire simulated wear distribution was investigated with an innovative wear boundary recognition method. The differential tool wear model was evaluated and validated by the milling experiments and further supported by simulations.

Estimate of Tool Wear in Milling Operation Based on “Differential” Wear Rate Model

Many research show that in metal cutting process wear rate is dependent on the cutting process variables such as temperature at tool face, contact pressure (normal stress) and relative sliding velocity at tool/chip and tool/work interface; their relationship is described by “differential” wear rate model. Based on this “differential” wear rate model, a method to estimate tool wear in milling operation is proposed and the cutting process variables are predicted by performing chip formation analysis with FEM code ABAQUS/Explicit and heat transfer analysis with ABAQUS/Standard. The implementation is exemplified by estimating tool wear of carbide tools in milling of Ck45 work. Both progressive flank wear and crater wear profile are estimated.