Modeling Cutting Forces for 5-Axis Machining of Sculptured Surfaces *

5-axis milling processes are used widely in various industries such as aerospace, die-mold and biomedical industries where surface quality and integrity is important and the production tolerances are very tight. Therefore, improving surface quality and integrity without sacrificing productivity is crucial in these industries. Improvements in CAD/CAM, cutting tool and the machine tool technologies allow the production of high precision parts in less cycle times. However, desired quality and productivity can be obtained if process parameters such as feedrate, spindle speed, axial and radial depth of cut are selected appropriately. In general, these parameters are selected conservatively based on engineering expertise or trial and error methods in order to prevent workpiece, cutter of the machine to be damaged. Therefore, virtual machining simulation for milling processes is an increasing demand before the production of the part. This paper presents a mechanistic cutting force model for 5-axis ball-end milling process simulation. Cutter/workpiece engagement is determined via newly developed solid modeler based engagement model. Two different 5-axis machining tests are conducted on A17039 workpiece material for the validation of the proposed model. Validation tests demonstrate that presented model is computationally efficient and force predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data. This work may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part for any commercial purpose. Permission to copy in whole or in part without payment of fee is granted for nonprofit educational and research purposes provided that all such whole or partial copies include the following: a notice that such copying is by permission of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.; an acknowledgment of the authors and individual contributions to the work; and all applicable portions of the copyright notice. Copying, reproduction, or republishing for any other purpose shall require a license with payment of fee to Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright © Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc., 2010 201 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Modeling Cutting Forces for 5-Axis Machining of