5-Axis machining of curved surfaces

加拿大的工具、模具和模具制造业经历了一段动荡的时期。在接下来的十年里，随着制造业向海外转移以寻求更低的劳动力成本，销售额从2002年的12亿美元下降了40%以上。不断上涨的工资和运输成本侵蚀了这一优势，加拿大市场再次处于增长趋势。Thomas Insights预测，到2026年，机械加工市场将以每年5.5%的速度增长，全球规模将达到1280亿美元。这种增长是由新的加工方法推动的，以降低生产成本和提高生产率。申请人的研究取得了翻天覆地的飞跃，通过减少高达70%的精加工时间，将有助于精密模具的加工。用于加工曲面的稳健、简单和快速的基于五轴的多点加工(MPM)方法的发展奠定了坚实的理论基础，为拟议的加工曲面的研究计划打开了大门，这些曲面通常存在于工具、模具和模具中。利用五轴机床的灵活性，将刀具放置在靠近曲面的位置，并沿刀具轨迹加工出满足公差标准的宽条。该方法最好的解释是将工具放到表面上的壁橱点上，然后倾斜到最近的点，而不会在第一个点失去联系。这种落体倾斜法(DTM)受到了学术界的极大关注。目前的提案解决了其他挑战，这些挑战将为DTM进入工业铺平道路。研究计划中的主要挑战来自于需要控制已加工带材的宽度和控制刀具轴的倾斜。宽度控制确保将精加工表面划分为公差区域，减少了在随后繁琐和耗时的手工抛光操作中去除过多或不足的材料的可能性。同样，优化的倾斜度将有助于减少加工时间。按照上文概述的样本战略开展的工作已经开始。初步调查已取得成功，并将根据这项建议一直进行到完成。该战略的成功将进一步推动对多点加工研究计划的理解，使其达到可被行业成功采用的水平。微细加工在磨削等领域的应用仍然是一个开放的研究领域。进行研究的学生将获得基础知识和实践技能方面的专业知识。他们为S在机械加工、数值方法、实验设计、验证和研究设计方面奠定了坚实的基础，并学习使用在机械加工实验室中遇到的机器和工具。当他们在机械加工、航空航天、汽车、工具和模具等行业的职业生涯中解决行业问题时，将需要这些专业知识。

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.