Feed-rate scheduling by optimization of bulk removal

Abstract

The scheduling of feed-rate is an important procedure in CNC finishing of high-precision optical surfaces. Since the polishing process is described as the convolution operation between a tool influence function and a dwell-time map, deconvolution operation gives an optimal dwell-time map. However, physical achievability of the obtained dwell-time map is not considered. This research elucidates the effect of the bulk removal, a constant removal layer across the surface, on the convolution process in spatial domain and time domain. Based on this investigation, we propose a theory that has the potential to analytically adjust dwell-time, feed-rate, and acceleration without compromising the surface accuracy, and to predict the total machining time as a function of the bulk removal.