High precision and efficiency robotic milling of complex parts:Challenges,approaches and trends

Due to the advantages of large workspace, low cost and the integrated vision/force sensing, robotic milling has become an important way for machining of complex parts. In recent years,many scholars have studied the problems existing in the applications of robotic milling, and lots of results have been made in the dynamics, pose planning, deformation control etc., which provides theoretical guidance for high precision and high efficiency of robotic milling. From the perspective of complex parts r...     

飞机蒙皮镜像铣加工稳定性分析

镜像铣技术是近年来提出的一种针对大尺寸薄壁件的加工方法,其加工环保、高效,具有逐步取代传统化铣加工的趋势。针对飞机蒙皮镜像铣加工过程中的颤振问题,首先,根据镜像铣加工特点,建立工艺系统颤振稳定性极限的预测模型;其次,通过有限元方法对蒙皮工件进行模态分析,分析蒙皮不同加工位置动力学特性变化导致的铣削稳定性变化,并通过实验测量获取工件动力学参数,对不同加工位置的稳定性做出预测;最后,开展加工实验,基于非接触测量方法,在线监测镜像铣加工区域的振动位移,通过时、频域信号对加工状态进行辨识,揭示了镜像铣加工过程的稳定性变化及失稳机制,验证了所提方法的准确性,在工程领域具有较高的实用价值。     

Vibration signal-based chatter identification for milling of thin-walled structure

In high speed milling aeronautical part, tool condition monitoring(TCM) is very important, because it is prone to get a chatter owing to the low stiffness of thin-walled structures. And the TCM is key technology for automated machining. In this paper, aiming to chatter monitoring in thin-walled structure milling, a variational mode decomposition – energy distribution(VMD-ED)method is proposed to improve the identification accuracy. And a moving average root mean square – mean value(MARMS-MV) ide...     

A pre-generated matrix-based method for real-time robotic drilling chatter monitoring

Currently, due to the detrimental effects on surface finish and machining system, chatter has been one crucial factor restricting robotic drilling operations, which improve both quality and efficiency of aviation manufacturing. Based on the matrix notch filter and fast wavelet packet decomposition, this paper presents a novel pre-generated matrix-based real-time chatter monitoring method for robotic drilling. Taking vibration characteristics of robotic drilling into account, the matrix notch filter is designed to eliminate the interference of spindle-related components on the measured vibration signal. Then, the fast wavelet packet decomposition is presented to decompose the filtered signal into several equidistant frequency bands, and the energy of each sub-band is obtained. Finally, the energy entropy which characterizes inhomogeneity of energy distribution is utilized as the feature to recognize chatter on-line, and the effectiveness of the presented algorithm is validated by extensive experimental data. The results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively detect chatter before it is fully developed. Moreover, since both filtering and decomposition of signal are implemented by the pre-generated matrices, calculation for an energy entropy of vibration signal with 512 samples takes only about 0.690 ms. Consequently, the proposed method achieves real-time chatter monitoring for robotic drilling, which is essential for subsequent chatter suppression.     

A review of chatter vibration research in milling

Chatter is a self-excited vibration of parts in machining systems. It is widely present across a range of cutting processes, and has an impact upon both efficiency and quality in production processing. A great deal of research has been dedicated to the development of technologies that are able to predict and detect chatter. The purpose of these technologies is to facilitate the avoidance of chatter during cutting processes, which leads to better surface precision, higher productivity, and longer tool life. This paper summarizes the current state of the art in research regarding the problems of how to arrive at stable chatter prediction, chatter identification, and chatter control/suppression, with a focus on milling processes. Particular focus is placed on the theoretical relationship between cutting chatter and process damping, tool runout, and gyroscopic effect, as well as the importance of this for chatter prediction. The paper concludes with some reflections regarding possible directions for future research in this field.     

机器人旋转超声铣削铝合金铣削力实验研究

基于KUKA工业机器人开展旋转超声铣削2A12铝合金实验,研究两种铣削方式切削点运动轨迹,为进一步研究铣削力奠定了基础。并分析旋转超声铣削(RUM)实验和普通铣削(CM)主轴转速、进给速度、径向切宽、轴向切深和超声电流对铣削力的影响规律。结果表明旋转超声铣削与普通铣削相比铣削力明显降低。     

超声振动切削对耦合颤振的影响

以耦合颤振为研究对象,通过理论分析和实验测量,研究了超声振动切削(UVC)方法对其影响及机理。超声振动切削可以通过控制系统能量摄入抑制耦合颤振。一方面,确定系统发生耦合颤振具有临界能量阀值,系统摄入能量为瞬时切削功率在净切削时间内的积分;建立的临界切削深度模型,表明超声振动切削可以增大临界切深,这表示系统具有更大的切削功率阀值,其原因是超声振动切削方法净切削时间减少,从而在一定切削时间内维持系统能量摄入总量不变,保证切削系统的稳定。另一方面,在相同条件下,超声振动切削可以有效降低平均切削力,减少系统摄入的能量,从而减弱耦合颤振的振动幅度,对其进行抑制。使用自行研制的弱刚度镗杆进行了对比实验,实验结果表明:超声振动切削可以增大临界切削深度且临界切深与占空比成反比;在相同条件下减小了系统振动幅度,获得了更好的加工质量。     

立铣加工颤振稳定性时域求解与分析研究(英文)

In this paper, the instantaneous undeformed chip thickness is modeled to include the dynamic modulation caused by the tool vibration while the dynamic regenerative effects are taken into account. The numerical method is used to solve the differential equations goveming the dynamics of the milling system. Several chatter detection criteria are applied synthetically to the simulated signals and the stability diagram is obtained in time-domain. The simulation results in time-domain show a good agreement with the analytical prediction, which is validated by the cutting experiments. By simulating the chatter stability lobes in the time-domain and analyzing the influences of different spindle speeds on the vibration amplitudes of the tool under a Fixed chip-load condition, conclusions could be drawn as follows： In rough milling, higher machining efficiency can be achieved by selecting a spindle speed corresponding to the axial depth of cut in accordance with the simulated chatter stability lobes, and in Fmish milling, lower surface roughness can be achieved by selecting a spindle speed well beyond the resonant frequency of machining system.     

航空薄壁件铣削加工中保持工艺系统高刚性方法

针对航空铝合金薄壁工件铣削加工时易出现的颤振以及切削效率低的问题,从动力学角度出发进行了深入的分析研究,提出了通过采用保持工艺系统高刚性的加工过程工艺优化与铣削加工动力学仿真结合的方法进行铣削加工.试验结果证明本法可以收到很好的效果,较好地解决了航空铝合金薄壁结构工件加工的颤振问题,提高了工件的加工表面质量和切削效率.     

复杂叶片机器人磨抛加工工艺技术研究进展

针对航空、航天、能源等国家战略领域复杂叶片高效高品质加工重大需求,对近年来以工业机器人为装备执行体的机器人磨抛加工技术的研究进展进行了综述。具体围绕叶片机器人磨抛中涉及的加工系统精确标定、测量点云高效匹配、加工轨迹自适应规划,以及柔顺力精密控制等关键工艺技术,系统而全面地分析了国内外已公开发表的相关文献,并以典型的汽轮机叶片和发动机叶片为例,阐述了叶片机器人磨抛工程应用效果。最后从叶片特殊部位一体化加工、磨抛加工颤振抑制、磨抛表面完整性控制、叶片增减材混合加工等方面对该领域未来研究方向进行了展望。     

In-process adaptive milling for large-scale assembly interfaces of a vertical tail driven by real-time vibration data

Assembly interfaces, the joint surfaces between the vertical tail and rear fuselage of a large aircraft, are thin-wall components. Their machining quality are seriously restricted by the machining vibration. To address this problem, an in-process adaptive milling method is proposed for the large-scale assembly interface driven by real-time machining vibration data. Within this context, the milling operation is first divided into several process steps, and the machining vibration data in each pro...     

材料切除对机匣铣削动力学与稳定性的影响

在薄壁零件加工过程中,工件材料的连续切除会造成工艺系统动力学特性的不断变化,并对工艺系统的颤振稳定性产生显著影响。以航空发动机机匣为对象,研究了其铣削过程中工件材料切除以及切削位置变化对工件动力学特性与颤振稳定性的影响规律。首先,根据机匣的几何结构与铣削工艺特点,提出了按切削行及切削段进行材料切除过程细分的方法。其次,建立了工艺系统动力学特性演化的快速计算方法和颤振稳定性极限的频域预测方法,并在单个切削行内和不同切削行间分析了材料切除过程对工艺系统的影响。结果显示,在单个切削行内工艺系统的动力学特性会小幅度减小,稳定性极限图会向左下方小幅度偏移;在不同切削行间工艺系统的动力学特性变化幅度较大,稳定性极限图呈现出交错排列现象,难以针对整个铣削过程进行切削参数优选,因此提出了基于单行刀位轨迹的切削参数优选方法,保证了整个材料切除过程的稳定切削。最后,进行了机匣铣削与模态试验,验证了所提方法的正确性与有效性。     

Chatter stability and precision during high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting of a thin-walled titanium cylinder

Titanium alloys are widely used in the aviation and aerospace industries due to their unique mechanical and physical properties. Specifically, thin-walled titanium (Ti) cylinders have received increasing attention for their applications as rocket engine casings, aircraft landing gear, and aero-engine hollow shaft due to their observed improvement in the thrust-to-weight ratio. However, the conventional cutting (CC) process is not appropriate for thin-walled Ti cylinders due to its low thermal conductivity, high strength, and low stiffness. Instead, high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting (HUVC) assisted processing has recently proved highly effective for Ti-alloy machining. In this study, HUVC technology is employed to perform external turning of a thin-walled Ti cylinder, which represents a new application of HUVC. First, the kinematics, tool path, and dynamic cutting thickness of HUVC are evaluated. Second, the phenomenon of mode-coupling chatter is analyzed to determine the effects and mechanism of HUVC by establishing a critical cutting thickness model. HUVC can increase the critical cutting thickness and effectively reduce the average cutting force, thus reducing the energy intake of the system. Finally, comparison experiments are conducted between HUVC and CC processes. The results indicate that the diameter error rate is 10% or less for HUVC and 51% for the CC method due to a 40% reduction in the cutting force. In addition, higher machining precision and better surface roughness are achieved during thin-walled Ti cylinder manufacturing using HUVC.     

Vibrations characterization in milling of low stiffness parts with a rubber-based vacuum fixture

Fixtures are a critical element in machining operations as they are the interface between the part and the machine. These components are responsible for the precise part location on the machine table and for the proper dynamic stability maintenance during the manufacturing operations. Although these two features are deeply related, they are usually studied separately. On the one hand, diverse adaptable solutions have been developed for the clamping of different variable geometries. Parallelly, the stability of the part has been long studied to reduce the forced vibration and the chatter effects, especially on thin parts machining operations typically performed in the aeronautic field, such as the skin panels milling. The present work proposes a commitment between both features by the presentation of an innovative vacuum fixture based on the use of a vulcanized rubber layer. This solution presents high flexibility as it can be adapted to different geometries while providing a proper damping capacity due to the viscoelastic and elastoplastic behaviour of these compounds. Moreover, the sealing properties of these elastomers provide the perfect combination to transform a rubber layer into a flexible vacuum table. Therefore, in order to validate the suitability of this fixture, a test bench is manufactured and tested under uniaxial compression loads and under real finish milling conditions over AA2024 part samples. Finally, a roughness model is proposed and analysed in order to characterize the part vibration sources.     

喷雾电火花加工稳定性

针对现有雾中电火花加工过程中放电过程稳定性不足的问题,采用去离子水超声雾化及工件端施加辅助超声振动的方式以提高加工过程的稳定性。分别以自来水及纯水产生的雾介质为工作介质进行电火花加工对比实验,结果表明:以超声雾化方式获得的微细雾介质,可有效降低短路率。同时还进行了侧向喷雾加工试验,发现通过侧向喷雾,可以进一步提高加工过程的稳定性,获得更好的加工效果。     

Vibration suppression of thin-walled workpiece machining considering external damping properties based on magnetorheological fluids flexible fixture

Milling of the thin-walled workpiece in the aerospace industry is a critical process due to the high flexibility of the workpiece. In this paper, a flexible fixture based on the magnetorheological(MR) fluids is designed to investigate the regenerative chatter suppression during the machining.Based on the analysis of typical structural components in the aerospace industry, a general complex thin-walled workpiece with fixture and damping constraint can be equivalent as a rectangular cantilever beam. On the basis of the equivalent models, natural frequency and mode shape function of the thin-walled workpiece is obtained according to the Euler–Bernoulli beam assumptions. Then,the displacement response function of the bending vibration of the beam is represented by the product of all the mode shape function and the generalized coordinate. Furthermore, a dynamic equation of the workpiece-fixture system considering the external damping factor is proposed using the Lagrangian method in terms of all the mode shape function and the generalized coordinate, and the response of system under the dynamic cutting force is calculated to evaluate the stability of the milling process under damping control. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach are validated by the impact hammer experiments and several machining tests.     

不分离型超声复合铣削系统稳定性研究

为研究不分离型超声复合铣削系统的稳定性,讨论了超声复合铣削运动特性,建立了不分离型超声复合铣削稳定性模型。利用半离散法对超声复合铣削稳定性进行研究,应用MATLAB软件进行数值分析并得出了超声铣削稳定性叶瓣图。研究表明,不分离型超声复合铣削能提高普通铣削系统的稳定性,最大极限切削深度提高约13.8%。利用钛合金材料进行超声复合铣削的试验验证,试验结果验证了理论模型与稳定性叶瓣图的正确性,同时也验证了利用半离散法分析超声复合铣削系统稳定性的可行性。     

Analytical model of cutting force in axial ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling in-situ TiB2/7050Al PRMMCs

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling has been widely applied in machining the difficult-to-cut materials owing to the remarkable improvements in reducing the cutting force. However, analytical models to reveal the mechanism and predict the cutting force of ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling metal matrix composites are still needed to be developed. In this paper, an analytical model of cutting force was established for ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling in-situ TiB₂/7050Al metal matrix composites. During modeling, change of motion of the cutting tool, contact of tool-chip-workpiece and acceleration of the chip caused by ultrasonic vibration was considered based on equivalent oblique cutting model. Meanwhile, material properties, tool geometry, cutting parameters and vibration parameters were taken into consideration. Furthermore, the developed analytical force model was validated with and without ultrasonic vibration milling experiments on in-situ TiB₂/7050Al metal matrix composites. The predicted cutting forces show to be consistent well with the measured cutting forces. Besides, the relative error of instantaneous maximum forces between the predicted and measured data is from 0.4% to 15.1%. The analytical model is significant for cutting force prediction not only in ultrasonic-vibration assisted milling but also in conventional milling in-situ TiB₂/7050Al metal matrix composites, which was proved with general applicability.     

超声振动方向对TC4钛合金铣削特性的影响

为充分发挥超声铣削钛合金的优势，改善钛合金的加工效果，增强表面服役性能，分别对刀具和工件施加超声振动，以寻求合适的振动方向和加工参数。理论推导了侧刃断续切削时的临界速度，试验研究了不同振幅和切削速度对表面形貌、切屑形态、切削力和刀具磨损的影响，同时探究了表面微织构对摩擦特性的影响。试验表明在两种振动方向下，增大振幅均使切屑的锯齿化程度降低，并且增加轴向振幅可使锯齿形切屑转变为带状切屑。轴向振动更有利于表面形成微织构、减小切削力、减缓刀具磨损、减小工件摩擦时的磨合时间，但需合理控制切削速度和超声振幅。同时，对切削力进行频谱分析，为工作状态下超声振动频率的测量提供了一种参考方法。     

Design of a tunable mass damper for mitigating vibrations in milling of cylindrical parts

Milling the free-end of cylindrical parts, which are vertically fixed on the machine table,often suffers from large chatter vibrations. This kind of phenomenon is harmful to the cutting process. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop means to suppress these undesirable chatters.This paper proposes a new idea for designing a tunable mass damper(TMD) to reduce vibrations in milling of cylindrical parts. Frequency response function(FRF) of the milling system is derived to comprehensively reveal the influence of both the dynamic response of the machine tools and the TMD. Critical axial depth of cut, which is usually used to characterize the process stability, is formulated by considering the FRFs of both the milling system itself and the TMD. Maximization of critical axial depth of cut is taken as objective function, while kernel dynamic parameters of TMD,which are involved in the derived expression of critical axial depth of cut, are extracted as designable variables. Optimization procedure is carried out to adjust the parameters of TMD by using sequential quadratic programming algorithm. A series of experiments with a designed passive TMD validate that the design has a good performance in reducing vibrations and improving stability of milling process.