Research On Constant Scallop-height Tool-path Planning Method In High Speed Milling

Recent years, High Speed Milling (HSM) is growing up rapidly as a machining technology. Comparing with traditional machining solutions, HSM can obviously reduce machining time and improve the surface's quality. In high speed milling, the tool-path planning method in HSM affects the machining efficiency and quality. So the study on tool-path planning in HSM is very important to put it to good use. Constant scallop-height tool-path planning method is a high-efficiency method in tool-path methods.Optimization, simulation and tool-path planning methods in HSM are studied in the paper. The main work is followed:1. The development of HSM, the characters and key-technologies are summarized. The current tool-path methods are compared and analyzed.2. The machining efficiency of the optimized NC program and surface quality are analyzed by means of a concrete example based on Vericut which is a NC machining Simulation&Optimization software. The solution of the optimization was discussed. The result verifies that the NC program's machining efficiency is improved obviously after optimizing by Vericut. And it can help the NC programmer adopt the reasonable machining parameters and serve in practice.3. The machining efficiency and machined surface's quality between the constant scallop height tool-path planning and iso-parameter tool-path planning are compared and analyzed. Furthermore the relation that free-form surface' curvature affects surface quality and machining efficiency is discussed. The result shows constant scallop height tool-path planning improves the machining efficiency and surface quality according to the surface's conditions, especially surface's curvature.4. A constant scallop-height smooth tool-path planning algorithm based on constant scallop height tool-path was presented. Unlike the traditional constant scallop height tool-path planning method, it produces the optimal machining efficiency under the condition of ensuring the tool-path smoothness. The tool-path of the parametric surface is calculated based on the algorithm at the platform of Matlab. The result shows that the algorithm can acquire high-efficiency smooth tool-path compared with constant scallop height tool-path planning method. Especially in high speed milling, the idea of algorithm has obvious merits in practice.