A Long-term Control Scheme of Cutting Forces to Regulate Tool Life in End Milling Processes

Abstract

Numerous researches have been reported in the literature on the cutting force control in end milling processes. There have been, however, very few practical applications actually employed in commercial products. In this research, as a practically feasible and effective cutting force control scheme, we propose a long-term cutting force control strategy with a particular focus on the regulation of the tool life. First, the cutting force is monitored only at every “check point” set on the tool path. Since it does not require continuous full-time monitoring of cutting forces, a “cheaper” estimation scheme of cutting forces can be potentially employed. During actual cutting, the feedrate profile is updated at every check point, such that the cutting force is regulated along the target profile. The target profile is given such that the desired cutting distance can be machined before reaching the end of tool life. The effectiveness of the present approach is experimentally investigated by cutting experiments of hardened steel.