Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 162-173 Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process Based Finite Element Method Jing Sheng1 and Liping Yao2 1Dpt. of Mechanical Engineering, HuBei Automotive Industries Institute, Hubei Shiyan 442002, China 2Dpt. of Foreign Languages, HuBei Automotive Industries Institute, Hubei Shiyan 442002, China Abstract The key techniques of 2D modeling with MSC.Marc software and the whole mod- eling procedure of metal oblique cutting process was presented. The rule based on the modeling process was investigated. The finite element simulation of metal machining is a complex process. It is essential to exploit a system to construct a model of simulation so as to obtain simulation data more conveniently and rapid- ly. This research is significant for the development of parametric modeling. The system’s interface, designed using C++ Builder, can access data which includes the geometrical angles and dimensions of tool, the sizes of work, the relative po- sition between tool and work, properties of tool and work, cutting conditions, etc.. The procedure file that is able to model in the MSC.Marc environment automatically is generated by the program. The parametrical modeling of sim- ulation is completed by the system which calls the procedure file. Finally, case studies were performed to study simulation model, interface and simulation. So the parametric modeling is a kind of effective avenue for metal machining process simulation. Keywords Orthogonal milling machining, Parametric modeling, FEA, Interface design 1 Introduction The experimentation, analytic and numerical method are frequently applied on the research on the metal cutting process. The disadvantages of experimenta- tion include the high cost and labor-intensive process, and the analytic methods are very difficult to understand and analyze the machining process in detail. Nowadays numerical approaches have been growing acceptance in industries and academia as a method for characterizing machining process [1-10]. It is known that modeling is one of some key techniques, in which geometrical angle and structural parameters of cutting tool are important factors. The modeling pro- cedure, however, is relatively complex and professional. Very little research on parametric modeling in metal machining has been reported. Numerical simulation will be taken as a tool by consumer, and the paramet- ric modeling is the first problem to be solved because of the practicability. The Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 163 paper described the general modeling procedure of metal cutting simulation, and presented some key techniques, especially parametric modeling. 2 The Parametric Modeling of Milling Process 2.1 Geometrical Modeling of Milling System Geometric modeling is very important for the simulation of milling. It directly affects the operation and results of the simulation system. The geometrical model of cutting system is presented in Fig.1. For confirming the milling tool’s rotating center conveniently, the origin of the coordinate is placed on the milling tool’s rotating center. In Fig.1, ∆x represents the transverse distance between the outer circle of the milling tool and the lateral surface of the workpiece, and ∆y is the height between the outer circle of the tool and the machining surface of the workpiece. Fig.1 The mode of two-dimension milling 2.2 Geometric Modeling of Milling Tool Fig.2 shows the polygon line of a milling tool during upmilling. Created the shape of single tooth, the 2-D model of milling tool was derived from duplicating the shape of single tooth along origin O. Computing formulas of the coordinates of the points on a tooth are seen in Table 1. where θ1 is the angle between face and back of tooth,θ2 is the angle of chip flute; while γ, α01, α02 represent the rake angle, the first relief angle and the second relief angle respectively. The tooth-spacing angle, the width, the height of teeth and the diameter of cutting tool are denoted by ε, ba1, h and d0. The computing formulas of the coordinates of down milling can be obtained by changing the abscissa in the formula into negative number, while keeping the value of ordinate the same. 164 Jing Sheng:Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process... Fig.2 The polygon line of milling tool Table 1 Computing formulas of the coordinates of the points on a tooth Point Coordinates of the points P1 x1 = −d0 2 + h; y1 = h× tgγ0 P2 x2 = −d0 2 ; y2 = 0 P3 x3 = −d0 2 + ba1 × tgα01; y3 = ba1 P4 x4 = y5−y3+ctgα02×x3−tg(θ2−ε+γ0)×x5 ctgα02−tg(θ2−ε+γ0) y4 = y5ctgα02−y3tg(θ2−ε+γ0)+tg(θ2−ε+γ0)(x3−x5)ctgα02 ctgα02−tg(θ2−ε+γ0) P5 x5 = − √( −d0 2 + h )2 + (h× tgγ0) 2 × cos ( ε+ arctg h×tgγ0 d0 2 −h ) y5 = − √( −d0 2 + h )2 + (h× tgγ0) 2 × sin ( ε+ arctg h×tgγ0 d0 2 −h ) P6 x6 = −d0 2 × cos ε; y6 = d0 2 × sin ε 2.3 Geometrical Modeling of Workpiece The computing formulas of the coordinates of the points on workpiece was derived from Fig.1. The formulas are shown in Table 2. Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 165 Table 2 Computing formulas of the coordinates of the points on workpiece Point x y W1 d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y W2 d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y + b W3 a+ d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y + b W4 a+ d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y where a, b are length and height of workpiece respectively. 2.4 Geometrical Modeling of Rigid Walls Two lines,R1R2 and R3R4, were used to represent two rigid walls.The two rigid walls are used to restrict the movement of workpiece on x-direction and y- direction. The coordinates of the points on two rigid walls are shown in Table 3. Table 3 The coordinates of the points on two rigid walls Point x y R1 a+ d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y + 1 R2 a+ d0/2 + ∆x d0/2−∆y + b− 1 R3 d0/2 + ∆x− 1 d0/2−∆y − b R4 a+ d0/2 + ∆x+ 1 d0/2−∆y − b 2.5 Material Modeling It is necessary to configure properties of material. The workpiece material during machining generates elastic-plastic deform under high temperature, large defor- mation and large deformation rate. Considering the effect of strain hardening, strain-rate hardening, and thermal softening on the stresses, Johnson-Cook’s em- pirical model (see (1)) was adopted. The JCMaterial law parameters are obtained by SHPB equipment (see Table 4). σ̄ = [A+B(ε̄)n] [ 1 + C ln ( ˙̄ε ε̇0 )][ 1− ( T − Troom Tmelt − Troom )m] (1) where ε̄ is the equivalent plastic strain, ˙̄ε the equivalent plastic strain rate, T the temperature; while A, B, n, C, m and ε̇0 is the parameters determined by a material itself; Tmelt and Troom represent the melting temperature and the room temperature respectively. 166 Jing Sheng:Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process... Table 4 JC material law parameters Parameter A/MPa B/MPa n C m Value 626 3614 0.82 0.0268 1 Meshing, configures of contact, boundary conditions, remeshing, analysis con- ditions, etc. are no longer mentioned here. 2.6 Friction Modeling Between Tool and Chip There are two explicit areas on the rake surface: slip region and glue region. On the basis of research, constant coefficient friction is applied in slip region and constant friction stress is used in glue one. The friction stress is written as [2]. f = { µσn σf = µσn k σf = k (2) where σn is normal stress. µ is friction coefficient and k is shear stress. 2.7 The Criterion of Chip Separation During the simulation, there are criterions that make the chip separate from workpiece and rake face. They are divided into geometric criterion and physical criterion. The geometric criterion decides the separation through the changes of geometric dimension of deformable body. The physical one is used to identify whether magnitude of physical quantity causes critical value or not. In fact, chips are separated by setting a minimum force or stress of the nodes as threshold. 2.8 Equation of Heat Conduction Because the system consists of workpiece, chip and tool generates heat contin- uously, the first and the second deformation zone of the workpiece go through plastic and elastic deformation. Besides, the rake surface of the tool has severe friction [4-5]. Equation of the heat conduction in unsteady-state temperature field (take vari- able thermal conductivity into account) is defined as follows: ρc ∂T ∂t = K ( ∂2T ∂x2 + ∂2T ∂y2 ) + dK dT [( ∂T ∂x )2 + ( ∂T ∂y )2 ] −ρc ( wx ∂T ∂x + wy ∂T ∂y ) +q∗ (3) where k represents the thermo conductivity coefficient and T is temperature.ρ is the material density and c is thermal capacity. X and y are Cartesian coordinate Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 167 system. wx and wy represent velocity component of kinetic heat-source in x and y axis respectively. q∗ is heat generation rate per unit volume. q∗ = Whσ ˙̄ε/J (4) where Wh is the ratio that plastic deformation workpiece turn into heat energy. σ̄ is equivalence stress. ˙̄ε is equivalence strain ratio. J is coefficient of thermal equivalent of workpiece. Because the amount of radiant heat is little, it is ignored. 3 Key Techniques of Parametric Modeling of Simulation of Milling Process 3.1 Interface Design 3.1.1 The Interface Design Between C++ Builder and Database Exploiting database, database module and database engine provided by C++ Builder or ADO(Active Data Object)were employed to access database. The tables whose type is DBF and frequent BDE engine were used, while parameters about BDE were set, such as path, type and language drive. 3.1.2 The Interface File of Parametric Modeling In MSC.Marc Governed MSC.Marc software characters, the system’s knowledge base rules were established. Thus, procedure files were written using C++ Builder code according to the rule. Based on the model of the tool and the workpiece, the topology and geometric information of the tool, such as points, line and surface, the procedure of their modeling as well as meshing was written in procedure file line-by-line. Then the modeling of the rigid walls was done, too. While the relative position between tool and workpiece, material model, friction model between tool and chip, properties of tool and workpiece, cutting conditions, the configures about finite element simulation and so on, were written into the file in same way. Therefore the created procedure file can be operated according to specified manner. So the modeling process becomes easy and rapid. Fig.3 shows the block diagram of modeling process. The structure of procedure file is seen in Fig.4. 3.2 Creating the Parametrical Modeling File Parametric modeling file (procedure file) can finish the scheduled task in finite element software MSC.Marc to model and simulate the process of milling. So through explanation facility of a process file, the geometric information of cut- ting system’s points and lines can be performed. 168 Jing Sheng:Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process... Fig.3 The block diagram of modeling process Fig.4 Structure of procedure file 3.3 Parametric Setting of Workpiece and Property of Milling Tool. Before the simulating of machining process, geometric properties and material property of elements, contact relationship of bodies, mechanics and thermal con- ductivity between milling tool and workpiece need to be defined and evaluated. Because the dimensions of workpiece, structural sizes and geometrical angles of tool have influence on the number of elements, dynamically meshing workpiece and tool are important. Here element sets were employed to store the workpiece and tool elements respectively. The system implemented the method that setting units invisible or visible instead of calculating the number of elements developed before. By programming, all of configures of the model parameters were carried out automatically. Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 169 4 Execution of Example The user interface of modeling system is presented in Fig.5. The interface has five functions that include file management, adding modeling database, browsing modeling data, parameters of tool and work and contact parameters between tool and work. In the example, the diameter of tool is 30.2 mm, the height of teeth is 4 mm, and other parameters are given. The model of down milling is shown in Fig.1a and the model of up-milling is shown in Fig.1b.When the amount of feed is 46 mm·min-1,the rotating rate of milling is 275 rpm, and the width of cutting 3 mm, the situations of down milling and up milling are shown in Fig.6 and Fig.7. Fig.8 and Fig.9 show the predicted forces of down milling and upmilling. Fig.5 The user interface of modeling system Fig.6 The simulation of down milling 170 Jing Sheng:Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process... Fig.7 The simulation of up-milling Fig.8 The milling force of down milling Fig.9 The milling force of up-milling 5 Experimental Verification For the purpose of verifying the simulation result, a milling experiment was con- ducted. The milling equipment is XH719 manufactured by QingDao first machine Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2012) Vol.12 No.2 171 tools factory, and its power is 28 KW. The material of a milling tool is YS2T. The diameter of milling tool with four teeth is d=30.2 mm. The measure equipment is Kistler9237A. Down milling was used. Cutting conditions were the same as the value used in simulation. The history of cutting force is shown in Fig.10. It is shown that the experimental result agree with the simulation data. Then orthogonal table was designed to measure cutting temperature(see Table Fig.10 The simulation of cutting force of down milling Table 5 Orthogonal table Axial Radial Amount Cutting cutting cutting of feed speed width /mm width /mm /mm·min−1 /m·min−1 2.00 5.0 37.5 23.6 2.00 7.1 47.5 29.5 2.00 10.0 60.0 37.3 2.45 5.0 47.5 37.3 2.45 7.1 60.0 23.6 2.45 10.0 37.5 29.5 3.00 5.0 60.0 29.5 3.00 7.1 37.5 37.3 3.00 10.0 47.5 23.6 5). Fig.11 shows experiment value and simulation date. 6 Conclusions Following the expatiations of the whole process of parametric modeling in M- SC.Marc, the paper discussed the key techniques. It has been proven that the ways and means are effective. It is helpful to simulate under different cutting pa- rameters, various dimensions and geometric angles of a tool. Therefore paramet- ric modeling will provide good foundation for creating further cutting databases 172 Jing Sheng:Parametric Modeling and Simulation of Orthogonal Milling Process... 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