This paper deals with feature models of machined shapes and a machining operation, which correspond directly to the machining process model. So far, the feature model of machined shape was modeled as the machining features, for example, hole, pocket, slot, etc. However, only tool behaviors are derived from giving the tool and the cutting motion to the machine tool. Therefore, we introduce the behavior model of cutting tool, working tool, as a feature models of machined shapes to connect the machining operation and machined shapes. The working tool consists of the swept macro tool, the envelope of the swept macro tool, and the working edge. The feature model of the machining operation, operating step, is also proposed from the viewpoint of the dimension of a macro cutting tool, the dimension of feed motion, and the number of enveloping constraints.

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This paper describes the machining error estimation based on observation of a ball-nosed end mill behavior and simulating cutting force with Genetic Programming method. The milling tool displacement and cutting force are measured in machining process on 5-axis MC. GP is applied to simulate a tendency of cutting force magnitude. An over cutting is detected in the result of measurement data. Results of simulation well estimate magnitude of cutting force.

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In order to give product competitive strength, it is an important point to shorten a development term. The manufacture cost estimated system using 3D-CAD data offers the environment of the design review which used the manufacture cost as the base in the Design Revue. After all shortening of a product development term can be aimed at. There are four descriptions of this Cost Estimation System. The 1st is that estimation parameter is acquired from 3D-CAD data. It is that the 2nd attained automation of process setup-man hour calculation-cost calculation. It is the 3rd having had estimated criteria data used by the estimate in the external database, and having raised flexibility. he last is the function which unites with estimated criteria and generates automatically a part for the calculation function part of a source program.

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This paper describes a method of precision abrasion machining for finishing of brittle materials. This method is similar with water jet abrasive machining or liquid honing, but very fine abrasive grains are used to accomplish ductile mode machining with an abrasion rate of a few nanometers per minute and a few nanometers surface roughness. In the experiments, aluminum oxide grains of different sizes 0.3-3.0um were mainly used. The diameter of nozzle was 1mm and the ejecting pressure was 2-6MPa. The distance from the nozzle tip to the surface was 20mm. Work materials were optical glasses and silicon single crystal. A series of fundamental experiments was performed without scanning of the nozzle against the workpiece. The removal spots were oval or circular depending on the collision angles. The depth profile was V- or W-shape. The removal rate and surface roughness depended on all the experimental conditions except machining time. There found several machining conditions suitable for ultraprecision figuring and finishing of brittle materials.

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This report describes the development of the micro-ice jet machining (IJM) device for the via fabrication on the resin isolation film of semiconductors, which is capable of intermittent blasting of micro-ice. The IJM process is similar to an abrasive jet machining (AJM), and selectively removes softer materials than the micro ice of pure water. IJM uses fine ice powders, which are produced under the low temperature condition of -150℃ or below. As the ice jet stream from the nozzle is focused onto the workpiece, small holes or slots can be machined. The blasted micro-ice is melted and has no influence upon the environment of production processes. We investigated the blasting characteristics and the possibility of the IJM process. It was clear that the IJM device can blast micro-ice intermittently and that the resin material, which is softer than micro-ice, can be machined.

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This paper deals with the precision cutting (shaper) of non-axi-symmetric aspherical surface by using a single crystal diamond round shape tool. Precision shaper system of 3-dimentionally control was developed. In the cutting tests, the molding dies of brass alloy for toroidal plastic lenses were examined.

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Generally, micro parts in MEMS field are fabricated by silicon-based micro-machining method. On the other hand, precise machining method by a mechanical machine with nano-meter accuracy is getting attention in some field these days. This method has several advantages as it can produce exact and clear slope which will have free shape some time and several kind of materials with high quality. But so far, it has been acknowledged that the mechanical machining is not suitable for high aspect ratio micro structuring, such as micro square groove. Because, making micro tool is too difficult and machine vibrations cause bad infurance. In this paper, we report about it is possible to manufacture with ultra-precision by means of mechanical machining high aspect ratio micro structure which took up the micro square groove and the micro square pillar.

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This paper describes the grinding of CVD-SiC X-ray mirrors with cylindrical surfaces using an ultraprecision micro-form generating machine with ELID system. The grinding wheels used were trued to a R-shape with high profile accuracy by a micro EDM truing device mounted on the machine. Results of grinding experiments indicated that a good form accuracy was achieved successfully.

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This paper describes an ultraprecision polishing method of larger scale X-ray mirrors which made of fused silica, and the polishing characteristics. The X-ray mirrors which ground high form accuracy with ELID-grinding used #4000 cast iron bonded diamond wheel, it was took polishing with NC control polishing machine using a small polishing tool and Ce_2O_3 slurry. In the results, very good ground surface of Ra < 1nm mirror can be achieved.

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In the on-machine measurement, the tilt error in loading of the probe to the machine affects to the measuring accuracy. To achieve the automatic machining and measurement system, it is necessary for the measuring probe to escape away from the machining point to avoid interference and exposure to wet condition in machining. So this probe escape system needs to be repeatable in the tilt error. In this report, the relation between the repeatability of probe tilt error and measuring accuracy is calculated and evaluated.

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This paper deals with the precision grinding of non-axi-symmetric aspherical surface by using a resinoid bonded diamond wheel. precision grinding system of 3-Dimentionally control was developed and the surface roughness were discussed. In the grinding tests, the non-axi-symmetric aspherical (troidal shape) of glass lens were ground with resinoid bonde diamond wheel.

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A laser micro forming of a glass will be an important technology for micro marking, texturing and manufacturing of micro lens in the future. Recently, we found that a convex structure could be directly formed on a glass by a YAG laser. The characteristics of the phenomenon were made a thorough at once. As a result, it was proven that many convex structures could be close one another or that they could be formed on a glass surface three-dimensionally. This paper is described on some new micro forming methods of a glass developed by applying the phenomenon.

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Crystal regularity governs final accuracy in anisotropic etching process since the final shape consists of specific crystal planes. However the size is limited up to millimeter order, this process is not suitable for processing the large size. This paper proposes a combined process of lapping and anisotropic etching to achieve large-scale regular shape with high accuracy. Removal amount and rate of specific crystal planes were analyzed and it was proven that the single crystal silicon was anisotropically machined under the control of lapping pressure. The maximum ratio of the removal rate to one of (111) plane was 2.1. It was shown the ability of the combined process to make surface of the (111) planes smoother in large scale.

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The microfactory is the downsized manufacturing system for small products, which has a potential to reduce the energy consumption, to save occupied space and to increase the flexibility for changing products. As one of the component of the microfactory, the micro press machine has been developed, which has a small progressive die and a compact roll feed device. Its dimension is only 111mm wide, 66mm deep and 170mm high, but it has the maximum press force of about 3kN. The micro press machine can process from the metal strip of 120μm thick to housing cover of the miniature bearing using four blanking and two bending included in single die set. However, the power train of the micro press machine, which consists of AC servo motor and timing belt, might not have enough stiffness especially for fast press condition. Again, it might cause the change of the punching speed. To confirm and discuss this, the punching speed was measured by liner potentiometer. As a result, it has been clarified that the punching speed is almost zero at the moment before the blanking.

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The removal unit in processing is substantially decreasing along with the miniaturization of industrial products. The bulk material is no longer a continuous solid body from a microscopic viewpoint. It is, therefore, important to understand the behavior of each component/element in micro tribology. In this study, an indentation and scratching test was performed on an annealed material S25C carbon steel. The phenomenon of ferrite and pearlite in the microscopic region is clarified, while the results are also extended to interpret microscopic phenomenon.

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In this study, we attempted the development of the cylindrical grinding machine with ELID system for a Micro tool. We also detailed investigating to evaluate the performance of the turn electrode method of ELID system, and the micro cylindrical shaft and micro angular shaft were grinding by cylindrical grinding machine with ELID system. As a grinding experimental result, a good dimensions accuracy could be achieved successfully.

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A novel method fabricating holographic optical elements by precision cutting using single-point diamond tool was proposed. For this purpose, we developed ultrahigh precision 6-axes CNC machine tool with double V roller guides and precision air bearings. Cutting experiments on oxygen free copper have been done using the ultrahigh precision machine tool.

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The purpose of this study is to develop a mid-infrared high dispersion spectrograph (IRHG) with high resolving power for astronomical observations. In this study, the authors proposed a method of grinding micro V grooves in brittle materials such as germanium using the cast iron bonded diamond grinding wheel. The wheel was sharpened using a method combining electro-discharge truing and mechanical truing employing abrasives. The grinding process was performed by the eletrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) grinding technique.

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In this study, the ultra-precise cutting was carried out using the single crystal diamond tool for 7 kinds of plastics of Polycarbonate, Polystyrene, Polymethyl methacrylate, High density Polyethylene, Polyamide 6,Polyvinyl chloride and Polypropylene. Measurement of the surface roughness and observation of the cutting plane were performed, and the physical property which influenced surface roughness was investigated, and the cutting mechanism in the plastic was clarified.

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This paper presents and experimental investigation of high-spindle-speed end milling of dies and molds. Several issues involved with the high-spindle-speed ball end milling of SKD11 die steel material of hardened up to 60HRc, have been studied and explained from an analysis of cutting forces. The experiments were performed using a CNC milling machine equipped with a high speed air bearing spindle and small size ball-nose end mills with deferent cutting edge geometry. Dry cutting conditions were used and the optimum cutting edge geometry have been specified based on the tool lives.

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This paper describes examples of ultra high speed machining by aero-static bearing spindle, so called the air spindle. Air spindle has no metal contact, therefore there is no limitation to turn it for long hours in constant at maximum speed. In addition run out of the spindle (NRRO) is smaller than 0.07μm and then tool life can be extended. Due to the above-mentioned feature, air spindle realizes an actual ultra high speed machining only by using small size cutters.

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This paper deals with machining accuracy of scroll shape. It is not easy to get high accurate machined surface due to change of radius of curvature of the scroll. Therefore cutting tests are performed and influence of type of milling, spindle speed, helix angle and number of teeth on machining accuracy are considered.

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The effect of high speed milling by side and profile milling, reducing cutting force by slight milling But by actual process, it is impossible to adapt all cases, because there are many kinds of work materials and work pieces which are difficult to machine by high speed milling Now we introduce the milling example of deep wall areas and roughing process which are difficult to machine.

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Recently, high-speed milling technique for realizing high efficiency and high accuracy in the manufacturing of die and mold has become useful and important technology. In this technology, a small diameter ball end mill is used at the cutting conditions such as small depth of cut, high rotational speed and high feed speed. And, it becomes important to optimize the specifications of the tool for high-speed milling. This paper describes the effects of surface treatment for ball end mill tool. The cutting edges and flank/rake faces of tool could be treated by magnetic assisted polishing method and micro blasting method. And, the cutting characteristics of high-speed milling were investigated.

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This paper describes the results of experiments on high speed milling of high hardness cast iron using CBN tools. First, the wear of CBN tools was compared with other tool materials in face milling of ductile cast iron and high chrome cast iron, and the ball end milling was applied to the high chrome cast iron. Next, the wear characteristics of CBN tools were investigated in end milling of the ductile cast iron that can be quenched, which is developed for the large stamping die.

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In this study, mold models of camera body were cut by using the various CAM software with TiAlN coated cemented carbide ball endmill, and the surface conditions of each mold model and tool wear conditions after cutting were studied.

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In this report, the high speed dry drilling can be realized by the lubrication coating and the special geometry having good chip evacuation. Under high speed dry cutting, the chip showed the typical structure change and this might assist to extend tool life very much.

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The tool-spindle interface is an important element for high speed machining, high metal removal rate and high accuracy cutting. This paper describes a newly developed tool-holder of adjustable flange and taper constraint type which is adapted to 7/24 taper and 1/10 taper of the spindle head of MC. End milling tests were carried out employing a vertical machining center. The static and dynamic stiffness of the tool-holder developed were measured on the same machining center. Experimental results show that the stability of machining against chatter vibration is much improved when the tool-holder developed is used as compared with the traditional normal type tool-holder.

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NIKKEN Press Fit Tool has been developed especially for Die Mould Deep Profiling. A particular Strength is deep Recesses. This adopts a revolutionary End Mill Chucking system. The Features are the unique System of : its double Contact Fitting with 1/100 Taper and the Flange between the Press Fit Tool and the PF End Mill, and the Press Fit Operation on the Press Fit Stand.

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This paper lists the kind of the holder that holds the cutter and also the cutter that are used the processing thing of the metallic mold and nonferrous metals parts that are processed with the high speed machine to the processing contents to, the nucleus and report the present condition about the endmill holder and boring head that are important for the high speed machine. This paper introduce the collet chuck for endmill and needle roller chuck and finish boring head that did the consideration to the physics phenomenon and introduce the physics phenomenon that occurs with the high speed turn.

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Vibration induced by the residual unbalance of a spindle system that consists of a spindle and a tool holder is an important subject to accomplish higher efficiency and higher accuracy in a die machining with a machining center. Experiments have been made to examine the possibility of the measurement of a tool unbalance under the residual unbalance of the spindle system using both a balancing machine of one's own making and a higher speed machining center. It is demonstrated that the phase angle of the tool unbalance can be measured correctly. It is difficult, however, to measure the magnitude of the unbalance.

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Our "R"-ZERO is a tool holder with a new concept that can adjust the run-out accuracy of the cutting edge as close as to "zero". It is most suitable for high-precision hole making with drills or reamers. Moreover, it greatly prolongs cutting tool life in the case of small diameter drills or endmills. In this manuscript, mechanism and features of "R"-ZERO holder will be explained, showing actual cutting examples to verify that high run-out accuracy of the cutting edge will result in excellent machining quality.

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This paper deals with the analysis of deflection of a square end mill using FEM. In FEM modeling the cross section under investigation is divided into eight nodes hexahedron elements based on basic geometrical shapes. The deflection of a tool caused by concentrated load is calculated by means of FEM. And the results of FEM analysis were compared with the analysis of deflection using moments of inertia of area.

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An operation called tensioning has be performed on the tipped saw used in the sawing for two purposes of the addition of residual tensile stress and the increase of natural frequency. The conventional tensioning method requires a great amount of skill. This paper describes new tensioning methods. One is an expansion fit tensioning and the other is an internal pressure tensioning. The cutting performance of these tipped saws produced by new methods is compared with that of the conventional one. An adequate residual stress is generated by the new methods, and the natural frequency of the disk is increased. At a high sawing speed of 1916m/min, the new method has the same wear resistance as the conventional tensioning method, but cannot saw at all at a low speed of 100m/min.

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An in-process tool wear meter for turning has been developed by combining a sensor-integrated insert and simple signal processing technique. The sensor consists of TiN thin wire traces, which are deposited on the flank of every cutting corner of ceramic insert in parallel with the edge. As flank wear breaks the wire traces at a rapid pace, a step increase in sensor resistance occurs. This feature of the resistance signal allows for the easy interpretation of the sensor resistance output in terms of the wear amount. The sensor mechanism ensures highly reliable in-process measurement of flank wear in conjunction with appropriate signal processing. In a series of test experiments, with varied cutting conditions, the practical reliability and usefulness of the meter was confirmed. In addition to wear measurement, it was shown that the sensor could signal the machine to automatically stop when the insert wears out.

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Future flexible manufacturing systems require intelligent machine tools equipped with effective in-process monitoring systems for machining environment. To meet the requirements, the sensor which has properties such as multifunctionality, reliability, sensitiveness, responsibility, and compactness, is urgently required. Therefore, we developed a micro-sensor of resistance thermometry type which can detect thermal behaviour near by cutting point with high responsibility. The proposed sensor is made by-micro-fabrication technique for semiconductor product and onto tool tip surface directly. In this study, the performances of the proposed micro-sensor have been verified through a series of actual cutting experiments.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential application of mist process in continuous cutting. In particular, the so-called oil-water combined mist process method was studied. The oil-water combined mist process is to supply an oil-water combined mist that includes water and cutting oil. The heat produced in cutting process had been removed from cutting edge with the vaporization of the water in oil-water combined mist. The oil in the oil-water combined mist lubricated the cutting edge of the cutting tool. Therefore, the application of the oil-water combined mist provided better cooling and lubricating capability in the mist process. The experimental result show that the oil-water combined mist process improves the quality of the machining surface, reduces the wear off of cutting tools.

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This paper describes a grinding technology with minimum coolant, that is ECOLOG grinding. This grinding system is a process using a slight small amount of coolant and a little oil mist. We hope that the process is effective for costs saving regarding coolant, energy saving, cleaner environment of production line. We applied this process in the grinding processing that used CBN wheel, and examined the grinding ability. At first we performed processing test with material removal rate Z'=7 and found that ECOLOG grinding had same grinding ability as that of coolant grinding. In order to aim at improvement of material removal rate, we increased wheel peripheral speed from 80m/s to 120m/s and performed processing test and found that maximum material removal rate improved from Z'=7 to Z'=9 without decrease of hardness of workpiece after processing.

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A new mixing nozzle to spout 100μm size oil-filmed water drops is developed for the machining fluid and experimentally studied. Tested results show that better machinability can be obtained than water emulsion and oil fog metalworking fluids in the machining for SUS304 stainless steel and S10C mild steel bimetal. This machining fluid system will be widely useful for the ecological machining systems.

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Emulsion and soluble type metalworking fluids and flood coolant systems have been most widely used for precise machining processes. Recently, environmental issues, however, increase costs of waste fluid treatment in these types of coolant systems. In this paper, a new type metalworking fluid is developed and performance of this system is studied in aluminum alloy milling processes. Comparatively large size water drops (fog) are covered with oil film and sprayed on a machining point with soft air jet. The water drops play two important roles in the machining process, firstly carrying an infinitesimal quantity of oil to the machining pint and secondly cooling the tool and the work.

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To prevent environmental pollution, it is necessary to reduce the amount of cutting fluids used on production lines. One logical step to avoid such environmental problems is a minimal quantity lubricant (MQL) system which can provide cooling and lubrication with an extremely low quantity of lubricants and a large volume of blown air. In this study, actual machining tests such as milling and tapping tests were conducted using a biodegradable ester oil as a lubricant in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the MQL system. The summary of the results is that the MQL system demonstrates good lubricity, preferable expulsion of chips and elongated tool life compared with ordinary cutting fluids supply methods.

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This paper describes the cutting performance of dry-cutting and the cold-air blast cutting with a prototype Machining Center. The results are follows : (1) The prototype Machining Center of cold-air center though blast type has developed. (2) The tool life is 2.5 times by comparing the dry cutting process and the cold-air blast cutting process, in the case of S50C workpiece. (3) It is hard to cutting process NAK80 in the dry cutting process, but it can cutting NAK80 workpiece without a problem in the cold-air blast cutting process.

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This paper describes machining errors in high-speed ball end milling of cylindrical surfaces. The machining errors resulting from tool deflections are calculated at various parts of the machined surface and they are examined in experiments. The workpiece used is cold working tool steel and its hardness is HRC60. Cemented carbide ball end mills coated with (Ti, Al)N are used. It became clear in this research that 1) the machining error decreases with milling position angle, 2) up cut mode generally yields higher accuracy than down cut mode, and 3) in up cut mode, the machining error is larger at the upper part of the machined surface than at the lower part, and the converse is true in down cut mode.

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To design a machine tool without using hydraulic systems is one of our subjects essential for developing future machine tools. This report informs you of the progress of our reserch and results that we could obtain sofar. Our aim resides in establishing the element technology for eliminating hydraulic systems from a general-purpose machine tool and actually developing such machine tools. And we introduce a hard turning example, Micro-cut in stead of grinding.

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This paper describes the theory, structure and performance of ECOSAVER which is a device to make micro-fog and ECOTOOL SYSTEM used for semidry cutting. And it also shows the examples of some cutting tests.

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Elliptical Vibration Cutting is a better-performance method compared with Conventional Vibration Cutting. Therefore I have developed newly typed elliptical transducer which is practical use under bearable condition. This is new technology to generate elliptical vibration which is compulsory accorded with longitudinal vibration's resonant frequency in real time. As amplitude of vibration for the point of tool is in enough width, it can be generated elliptical vibration in stability for hours. The result of cutting test : We have confirmed that Elliptical Vibration Cutting has its superiority compared with Conventional Vibration Cutting. Furthermore we are sure that it is for practical us in sufficiency.

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A new ultrasonic elliptical vibration grinding method utilizing a stator of an ultrasonic motor is proposed. The ultrasonic elliptical vibration grinding wheel is produced by plating diamond grits on the stator of an ultrasonic motor. The basic characteristics of constant pressure grinding and constant depth of cut grinding for monocrystalline silicon are investigated with the proposed wheel. The result was that 8 times stock removal rate was obtained in constant pressure grinding by giving elliptical vibration and that normal grinding force decreased by 50% in constant depth of cut grinding. The effect of elliptical vibration was remarkable in case of rather low wheel peripheral speed as 10m/min and low grinding pressure as 15kPa.

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A new system is developed to control the ultrasonic elliptical vibration applied to the cutting tool, and it is applied to the ultraprecision elliptical vibration cutting of hardened stainless steel in the present research. Steady feedback control of the vibration locus is realized by developing a cross talk remover, which eliminates interference between the two directional vibrations. The controller keeps the vibration amplitudes and the phase difference between the two vibrations to be desired values and to chase the average resonant frequency of the vibrations simultaneously. The machining experiments show that shape accuracy and roughness of the finished surface are improved significantly by applying the developed system.

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Experiments of the ultrasonic die sinking of circular holes have been carried out on silicon carbide (SiC) workpiece by using various properties of slurry. Abrasive motion mechanisms were investigated by CCD camera and through SEM. It was observed that there arises an uncut part of the material at the center of the bottom of the machined hole on the workpiece. At the same time, the machining rate decreases due to the cavitations and due to the existence of the uncut part of the material, which grows up gradually as the machining advances. It is influenced by the various process parameters including the properties of slurry (viscosity, surface potential etc.).

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