Measurement of equivalent residual stresses generated by milling and corresponding deformation prediction

We introduce a method to measure the equivalent residual stresses and depths of the affected layers, which are generated in the workpiece during the milling process. These layers lie immediately under the milled surface. After machining, two material layers on the opposite side from the machined surface were chemically removed, and strain changes on the machined surface were measured after each layer removal. Based on the strain changes and the thickness of each removed layer, the equivalent residual stresses and depths of the affected layers in different directions were obtained. Based on the measured results, the corresponding deformations caused by the milling induced residual stresses can be predicted in workpieces with different rigidities. The predicted deformations were validated by the experimental results. We found that our measuring method can be successfully used in practice to evaluate the machined surface properties and predict the deformations caused by milling induced surface residual stresses accurately.