I-Corps: Cutting Tool Wear Monitoring Sensor

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的商业影响涉及探索刀具磨损监测传感器的商业潜力。刀具制造商、机床制造商和数控机床运营公司可以通过改进刀具生产流程和节省生产所需的模具时间来潜在地受益。越来越多的工业客户需要准确、精确且低成本地检测和诊断刀具磨损、损坏和/或刃口质量。然而，市场上几乎没有可靠的仪器具有所需的精度、分辨率、成本和机器使用。通过提供形态特征的定量信息，包括刀具边缘质量和与磨损、磨损和切屑相关的磨损，建议的传感器允许对刀具质量进行高分辨率监测和诊断。这个I-Corps项目弥合了最先进的仪器技术和刀具检测方法之间存在的知识鸿沟。现有的方法通常不提供以方便和时间/成本有效的方式监控精密切割工具的健康的定量措施。本项目开发的刀口干涉仪通过提供包括磨损、磨损和切屑在内的形态特征的定量信息，允许对刀具磨损进行精确的测量和监控。该项目实现了一种新的刀具磨损监测模式，产生了仪器仪表和表征方面的新知识。这项研究将为精密刀具创造一种新的变革性磨损诊断原则，以提高制造可靠性和自动化进程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this I-Corps project involves exploring the commercial potential of cutting tool wear monitoring sensors. Cutting tool manufacturers, machine tool manufacturers, and CNC machine operating companies can potentially benefit through improved cutting tool production processes and saving tooling time needed for production. There is a potential growing industrial customer need to accurately, precisely, and inexpensively sense and diagnose cutting tool wear, damage, and/or cutting edge quality. However, there are few reliable instruments available in the market with the required accuracy, resolution, cost, and on-machine usage. The proposed sensor allows for high-resolution monitoring and diagnosis of edge quality by providing quantitative information on morphological properties, including tool edge quality and wear related to abrasion, attrition, and chipping.This I-Corps project bridges a knowledge gap existing between the state-of-the-art instrumentation technologies and cutting tool inspection methods. Existing methods do not typically provide a quantitative measure to monitor the health of precision cutting tools in a convenient and time/cost-effective manner. The knife-edge interferometer developed in this project allows for precision cutting tool wear measurement and monitoring by providing quantitative information on morphological properties including abrasion, attrition, and chipping. This project enables a new cutting tool wear monitoring paradigm, producing new knowledge in instrumentation and characterization. This research will create a new transformative wear diagnosis principle for precision cutting tools to improve manufacturing reliability and the automation process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.