Modeling of process geometry in peripheral milling of curved surfaces

This paper presents an approach for modeling of the process geometry in peripheral milling of curved surfaces. The modeled process geometry involves feed direction, equivalent feedrate and cutter entry/exit angle. The equivalent feedrate, which is defined at the centroid of cutting cross-section, is proposed to measure the actual machining feedrate. The milling process of curved surface is discretized at intervals of feed per tooth for describing the variation of process geometry. The mathematical models for calculating the process geometry of each segmented cutting process are presented. Two same curved surfaces are machined. The tool paths are carried out with NURBS interpolation and traditional consecutive small line segments interpolation, respectively. The simulated and measured results are presented for the verification of the proposed method.