Research on tool diameter and processing width optimization for highly efficient machining of complex surfaces constrained by machining interference surface

During five-axis cutting, the unreasonable selection of the tool’s diameter and processing width will greatly affect processing efficiency. However, the existing tool’s diameter and processing width values avoid local over-cutting, which is conservative. Therefore, a calculation method of optimal cutting diameter and processing width based on machining interference surface with flat-end cutter as the research object is proposed in this paper. First, the offset surface of discrete points is constructed as the machining interference surface based on the implicit surface theory. The surface offset is the maximum allowable machining error. Then, according to the Dupin indicatrix line between the tool and the machining surface, sufficient and necessary conditions for the local malleability of the flat-end cutter are obtained. Based on the constructed machining interference surface, the optimal diameter of the tool is calculated via the effective cutting profile curve of the tool at the interference surface. Next, the next cutter contact point is obtained by intersecting the tangent line between the cutter contact point and the upper or lower limit surface of the machining interference surface and the cutting path curve. The processing width is calculated according to the distance between the two adjacent cutter contact points. Finally, the proposed algorithm is verified by CAM software simulation and experiments by taking a complex surface as an example. The experimental results show that the optimization algorithm of the tool’s diameter and bandwidth under the constraint of machining interference surface can shorten the machining time and obtain higher machining efficiency in the NC machining of complex surfaces.