ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR DISTORTION PREDICTION IN MACHINED COMPONENTS

Machining of slender components made of aluminium and titanium presents major difficulties in terms of geometry and dimensional requirements. During the machining of this type of components, non-conformances due to distortions are frequent due to the residual stresses in the bulks, together with the machining induced stresses in the surfaces. Currently it is common to find numerical models based on finite element software that can estimate the final distortion of the component after machining. These calculations are key when trying to adapt the machining process to obtain components free of distortions. Despite representing an improvement, these finite element models have limitations regarding industrial applicability due to the long computational times and complexity. The present work introduces an analytical simulation model of a machining process, similar to the layer removal method, for the distortion prediction of machined components. This analytical modelling tool considers the residual stress profile of the bulks and the machining induced surface stresses. Furthermore, to validate the analytical model a comparison with finite element numerical model is presented, in terms of accuracy, computational time and user-friendliness. The obtained results reflect important benefits in favour of the analytical simulation model here presented, showing its potential as an industrial tool to use when dealing with machining distortions.