Experimental study of the effect of tool orientation on cutter deflection in five-axis filleted end dry milling of ultrahigh-strength steel

In five-axis surface machining, especially for parts with ultra-strength material, changing a tool’s orientation may lead to a different cutter deflection. The effect of tool orientation on cutter deflection in five-axis milling was investigated experimentally. The relationship between tool-workpiece inclination angles and cutting force was analyzed, so was the effect of tool orientation on cutting force-induced deflection. A flat surface workpiece and a curved surface workpiece whose material were both heated 300M steel were cut using filleted end mills without cutting fluid at different inclination angles. The cutter deflections along two axes during the cutting process were measured precisely online using laser measurement equipment. Theoretical errors of the static data due to the inter-coupling of the displacement along both axes were analyzed and compensated for. The trends of measurement errors regarding tool orientations were analyzed. Compensation and analysis of errors from the measured point to the cutter location point were also performed. The static part and the dynamic part were extracted from the collected displacement data. The results of static values showed that the lead angle and tilt angle had different effects on the deflections. The dynamic deflections were also varied with the attitude angles, and an increasing trend was observed in all groups. These results may provide guidance for tool orientation planning in multi-axis machining of difficult-to-cut material.