Intelligent Wear Adaptation in Milling - iWearAdapt

The productivity of milling processes is largely limited by the achievable material removal rate. A decisive factor is the stability of the overall system comprising the machine, toolholder, and tool. If the system’s stability limit is exceeded, self-excited vibrations—so-called chatter—occur, which can heavily load and damage tools and machines. To achieve optimal productivity, however, machining must be performed as close as possible to the stability limit, making accurate knowledge of this limit essential. For this purpose, stability lobe diagrams are empirically determined to reveal speed-dependent local productivity maxima. Over the tool life, tool wear continuously changes the cutting-edge geometry. The resulting change in contact between tool and workpiece leads to a significant increase in process damping. This effect has not yet been accounted for in stability lobe diagrams, leaving the potential for productivity gains largely untapped.

Objectives

The aim of iWearAdapt is to develop a new method that captures the wear-induced changes in process damping during milling, continuously updates stability lobe diagrams over the entire tool life, and derives optimal process control parameters from them. On this basis, the process control parameters are then adapted fully automatically and in real time. In this way, stability behavior is predicted in-process and productivity is maximized over the entire tool life.

Benefits

• Safety – Protection against chatter
• Productivity – Increased material removal rate
• Sustainability – Reduced resource consumption

Approach

In the course of the project, the IFW will first develop an approach for in-process detection of self-excited vibrations and tool wear. Subsequently, experimental test series and process simulations will be used to build a dataset for developing a stability lobe diagram generator. This combines analytical models with data-driven modeling using machine learning. Based on the generated stability lobe diagrams, the optimal process control parameters are then determined and used to adapt milling processes fully automatically.

The IGF project Intelligent Wear Adaptation in Milling – iWearAdapt of the VDW Research Institute is funded via the German Aerospace Center (DLR) under the Industrial Collective Research (IGF) program by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.

Companies Involved:

Alfred H. Schütte GmbH & Co. KG

DMG Mori AG

Gühring KG

Katulu GmbH

Lorenz Hoffmann GmbH

meyer + münster GmbH

ModuleWorks GmbH

Montronix GmbH

planlauf GmbH

PRÄWEST PRÄZISIONSWERKSTÄTTEN Dr.-Ing. Heinz-Rudolf Jung GmbH & Co. KG

Seco Tools GmbH

Synop Systems UG

Tetralytix GmbH

Walter AG

WOLF Werkzeugtechnologie GmbH

Are you also interested in research on the vibration behavior of machines or the monitoring and optimization of processes?

Pleae contact Maximilian Krüger via e-mail at krueger@ifw.uni-hannover.de or by phone at +49 511 762 18068.