Effect of Cutting Conditions on Roughness and Cutting Force When Machining a Freeform Surface with Barrel Tools

TL;DR

This paper studies how barrel tools affect surface quality and cutting forces when machining freeform surfaces.

Contribution

The study reveals how varying cutting speeds along barrel tools impact surface roughness and cutting forces during finishing operations.

Findings

Barrel tool machining produces a heterogeneous surface due to varying cutting speeds.

A 30% difference in cutting forces was observed between tool and workpiece regions.

Surface roughness varies significantly between regions despite being a finishing process.

Abstract

Barrel tools are relatively new tools that use atypical geometries to achieve shorter production times and improve surface quality. They have been increasingly used in the finishing operations industry, where they are gaining more and more popularity. For their optimal use, it is necessary to know how these tools behave during work in terms of how they load the machined product and what surface qualities they can achieve. For this reason, this study was conducted to compare two tools when machining a free surface. The obtained surface quality and the force load caused by the tool were evaluated. It was found that barrel tool machining results in a heterogeneous surface caused by different cutting speeds along the length of the tool and that the two obtained regions show differences in the obtained roughness. Even though the operation was classified as a finishing process, a difference of up to 30% was identified in the cutting forces acting on the tool and the workpiece.

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