An accurate prediction method of cutting forces in 5-axis flank milling of sculptured surface

• An accurate cutting force prediction method for 5-axis flank milling is proposed.
• A high accuracy and efficiency uncut chip thickness model is presented.
• Thin plate milling based parameters calibration procedure is given.
• The cutter runout including offset and inclination are both considered.

The instantaneous uncut chip thickness and entry/exit angle of cutter/workpiece engagement continuously vary with tool path and workpiece geometry in 5-axis flank milling of sculptured surface, which results in the obvious time-varying characteristic for consecutive cutting forces. An accurate prediction method for cutting force in 5-axis flank milling of sculptured surface is proposed in this paper. Comprehensively considering curved tool path and actual tool motion process with cutter runout (offset and inclination) effects, an accurate representation model for instantaneous uncut chip thickness during cutter/workpiece engaging in 5-axis flank milling is presented firstly, which can reach a higher accuracy and efficiency with the aid of linear iteration process than the methods published. Then, based on the thin plate milling experiments, an efficient calibration procedure for cutter runout parameters and specific cutting force coefficients is given and further verified in practice. Finally, a series of validation experiments are conducted under different cutting conditions, and the results reveal that there is a very good agreement between the experimental and simulation data both in shape and magnitude and prove the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method.