Adaptive Fluid Jet Support Technique for Variable Stiffness Thin-Walled Parts End Milling

To reduce machining errors in thin-walled parts manufacturing, the adaptive fluid jet support technique for variable stiffness thin-walled parts during the milling process was presented. The analysis of existing methods to avoid deflections in milling thin-walled parts was made. Along the tool path in the milling process, the stiffness of the thin-walled parts varies. The technique proposed was a single-point fluid jet support and implied variable impact force that considers the complex curvature of the part geometry. The behavior and the efficiency of the supporting fluid jet provided by the flow surface, including the flow features around different surface cross-section profiles and the concave and convex sides, were considered. An iterative algorithm of the adaptive adjustment of fluid jet support impact during milling considering variable stiffness of the thin-walled part was developed. The analytical errors prediction model was presented. The smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method was applied to model the fluid jet flow. The finite element method was applied to model the thin-walled part’s cutting forces and stresses under fluid jet impact. The comparison between applications of fluid jet support at different tool positions is performed. The technology is helpful from the point of view of uniform stabilization of allowance removal and approximates the machining of thin-walled low-rigid parts to the machining of completely rigid ones. The result data of sample parts showed that fluid jet support meets the requirements of thin-walled parts machining with decreased processing errors.