5-Axis machining of curved surfaces

加拿大的工具、模具和模具制造业经历了一个动荡的时期。2002年的销售额为12亿美元，在随后的十年里下降了40%以上，因为制造业为了寻求更低的劳动力成本而转移到海外。不断上涨的工资和运输成本侵蚀了优势，加拿大市场再次呈现增长趋势。到2026年，托马斯洞察预测，加工市场将以每年5.5%的速度增长，全球规模将达到1280亿美元。新的加工方式降低了生产成本，提高了生产率，推动了这一增长。申请人的研究取得了重大突破，将精加工时间减少70%，有助于精密模具的加工。一个健全的理论基础，结果在一个强大的，简单的，快速的5轴为基础的多点加工（MPM）方法加工曲面的发展，打开了大门，提出的研究计划，加工表面通常发现在工具，模具和模具。利用五轴机床的灵活性，将刀具放置在曲面附近，并沿刀具路径沿着加工满足公差标准的宽条。该方法最好解释为将工具下降到表面上最近的点上，然后倾斜到最近的点，而不会在第一点失去接触。这种滴注法（DTM）在学术界引起了极大的关注。目前的提案解决了其他挑战，这些挑战将为DTM进入行业开辟道路。在研究计划的主要挑战源于需要控制加工带的宽度和控制刀具轴的倾斜。宽度控制可确保成品表面被划分为公差带，从而减少在随后繁琐耗时的手工抛光操作中过度或不足材料去除的可能性。同样，优化的倾斜也有助于减少加工时间。已经沿着上面概述的样本战略开始工作。初步调查已经成功，并将根据本建议完成。该战略的成功将进一步推进对多点加工研究计划的理解，使其能够被工业成功采用。MPM在机械加工以外的领域，如磨削的应用仍然是开放的研究领域。进行研究的学生将获得基础知识和实践技能的专业知识。他们在加工，数值方法，实验设计，验证和研究设计方面建立了坚实的基础，并学习使用加工实验室中遇到的机器和工具。这些专业知识将需要在他们的职业生涯中在机械加工，航空航天，汽车，工具和模具等行业解决行业问题。

The Canadian tool, die and mold making industry has gone through a tumultuous period. From sales of $1.2 billion in 2002 it dropped by 40+% in the ensuing decade as manufacturing moved offshore in search for lower labor cost. Rising wages and transportation cost have eroded the advantage and the Canadian market is once again on a growth trend. By 2026, Thomas Insights, predicts the machining market will grow by 5.5% annually and reach $128 billion worldwide. The growth is fuelled by novel ways of machining to reduce production cost and increase productivity. The applicant's research has made a transforming leap that will help machining of precision dies and molds by reducing finish machining time by up to 70%. The development of a sound theoretical foundation that results in a robust, simple, and fast 5--axis based Multi-Point Machining (MPM) method for machining curved surfaces, has opened the door for the proposed research program on machining surfaces typically found in tool, die and molds. The flexibility of 5-axis machines is used to place the tool near the surface and machine a wide strip along the toolpath, where tolerance criterion is satisfied. The method is best explained as dropping the tool, onto the closet point on the surface, followed by tilting, to the nearest point, without losing contact at the first point. This Drop Tilt Method (DTM) has received great attention in academic circles. The current proposal addresses additional challenges that will open the path for the DTM to be adopted into industry. The main challenge in the research program stems from the need to control the width of the machined strip and to control the tilt of the tool axis. The width control ensures that the finished surface is divided into tolerance zones reducing the possibility of over or under material removal in the subsequent tedious and time-consuming operation of hand polishing. Similarly, an optimized tilt will help reduce machining time. Work has already started along the sample strategy outlined above. The preliminary investigation has been successful and will be pursued to completion under this proposal. The success of the strategy will further the goal of advancing the understanding of Multi-Point Machining research program to a level where it can be successfully adopted by industry. The application of MPM beyond machining to fields such as grinding remain open research domains. The students conducting the research will gain expertise in foundational knowledge and in practical skills. They build s strong base in machining, numerical methods, experiment design, validation, and research design and learn to use machines and tools encountered in machining labs. This expertise will be required when solving industry problems during their careers in machining, aerospace, automotive, tool and die industries among others.