Iso-Planar Feed Vector-Fields-Based Streamline Tool Path Generation for Five-Axis Compound Surface Machining With Torus-End Cutters

Abstract

This paper presents a new vector-field-based streamline smoothing method in the parametric space and a tool orientation optimization technique for five-axis machining of complex compound surfaces with torus-end cutters. Iso-planar tool path is widely used in the machining of various types of surfaces, especially for the compound surface with multiple patches, but the operations of intersecting the compound surface with a series of planes have depended considerably on the complicated optimization methods. Instead of intersecting the surface directly with planes, a novel and effective tool path smoothing method is presented, based on the iso-planar feed vector fields, for five-axis milling of a compound surface with torus-end cutters. The iso-planar feed vector field in the parametric domain is first constructed in the form of stream function that is used to generate the candidate streamlines for tool path generation. Then, a G1 blending algorithm is proposed to blend the vector fields within the adjacent parametric domains to ensure smooth transition of cross-border streamlines. Based on the smoothened streamlines in the parametric domains, pathlines along with their correspondent side sizes are selected as desirable tool paths. Concerning a high performance machining, detailed computational techniques to determine the tool axis orientation are also presented to ensure, at each cutter contact (CC) point, the torus-end cutter touches the part surface closely without gouging. Both the computational results and machined examples are demonstrated for verification and validation of the proposed methods.