Advanced Techniques of Developing High-Performance Cutters through Integration of Cutter Surface Formulation, Programming for Multi-Axis CNC Grinding, and Cutter Performance Evaluation

铣刀，如球/环面/平面立铣刀、铰刀和镗刀等，以及钻孔刀具对加工效率、零件精度和表面光洁度以及刀具成本至关重要。虽然切削刀具在工业上的应用已经有很长的历史了，但是直到现在，切削刀具还是由工程师们用传统的方法来设计的——用实验来反复试验。随着工业上越来越多的新型金属材料的应用，必须开发新型刀具，以取代传统刀具。不幸的是，传统的方法很大程度上依赖于设计师的经验，而且成本很高，时间也很长。尽管存在技术壁垒，但工业上迫切需要开发高性能刀具的新技术。基于申请人在CAD和CNC加工方面的专业知识以及他之前在刀具设计和制造方面的研究，他提出了一个新的和先进的研究计划，包括三个主题：(1)制定具有指定参数的复杂刀具表面并生成这些表面的多轴数控磨削的轮路；(2)立铣刀和钻槽的设计和优化；(3)刀具磨损机理模型的研究。虽然目前的刀具开发技术还远远没有达到预期的水平，但本研究可以显著地促进技术的发展，并使刀具和加工行业受益。

Milling cutters, such as ball/toroid/flat end-mills, reamers, and boring tools, etc., and drilling cutters are crucial to machining efficiency, part accuracy and surface finish, and tooling costs. Although cutting tools have a long history of industrial application, cutting tools even now are designed by engineers in the conventional way – trial-and-error with experiments. With more and more new metal materials adopted in industry, new cutters should be developed, instead of using conventional cutters. Unfortunately, the conventional way heavily depends on the designers’ experience, and it is quite costly and long. Despite of the technical barriers, new techniques of developing high-performance cutters are urgent needed in industry. Based on the applicant’s expertise on CAD and CNC machining and his previous research on cutter design and manufacturing, he proposes a new and advanced research program including three topics: (1) formulating complex cutter surfaces with the specified parameters and generating wheel paths for multi-axis CNC grinding of these surfaces, (2) end-mill and drill flute design and optimization, and (3) investigation of a mechanistic model of tool wear. Although the current technique of developing cutters is far from desired, this proposed research can significantly advance the technique and benefit the tooling and machining industry. This proposed research will significantly contribute to theoretical and technological advancement of developing high-performance cutting tools. It will also contribute to the general knowledge on cutter surface formulation, CAD/CAM and advanced CNC grinding, all of which have broad industrial applications. The techniques developed in this work will be implemented in cutting tool software for the Canadian tooling and manufacturing industry and benefit it through developing high-performance cutters and improving the efficiency of CNC machining; fortunately, this improvement is urgently needed to increase our industrial competitiveness in the on-going globalization. This research is complimentary to the present NSERC-sponsored projects of CNC machining, and its results will be promptly applied to our industrial production through the collaboration with Pratt & Whitney Canada,  Bombardier, and Minicut International (a local cutting tool manufacturer).