Modeling for machine tool optimized manufacture

Machining operations are of special economic importance due to their late position within the industrial manufacturing chain. Functional and design faces at whose quality the entire component is judged are often manufactured by machining processes. With that considerable potential exists here to avoid mistakes at components which went through already a great part of the added value chain. The process simulation can contribute essentially to opening this potential. In this context, research at Fraunhofer IPT has been performed in order to analyze common industrial machining applications with 2D and 3D-modeling. Based an FEM simulation and machining experiments, investigations of the correlation between cutting parameter, tool and workpiece properties have been carried out. Virtual reality techniques have been applied to visualize and analyze the simulations comparatively. However, the core research work is aiming on developing machine tool optimized cutting processes while special interest is pointed to the integration of cutting simulation in the CAE-chain of the manufacture of complex parts.