Dexterous machining of porous and soft objects

Abstract

In manufacturing industries, a demand for high value-added products has been increasing. It is important to establish a new way of creating value-added products, such as craftwork objects or applied arts, different from traditional way of achieving high quality and low price. Such a machining technology that enables (1) extremely complex or small shape generation, (2) machining of hard or soft materials, and (3) machining of difficult-to-grasp or fix workpiece may be called “Dexterous Machining”. Previously, “Dexterous Machining” is proposed for soft objects such as rubber by employing an aqueous solution of sodium acetate to fix a workpiece and to improve the stiffness. However, the method has not been applied to porous and soft objects like sponge. Porous and soft objects are much more difficult to machine compared to non-porous ones due to their inner numerous holes. Thus, the study deals with the first trial of machining the porous and soft objects without specific equipment. As a result of conducted experiments, it is found that a impregnation of the aqueous solution of sodium acetate is able to be applied to precisely machine porous and soft objects. These results expanded the potential of usage of the aqueous solution of sodium acetate and “Dexterous Machining” of porous and soft objects.