Title: A multifunctional high-speed spindle for micromachining medical materials

Authors: Mark J. Jackson, Chengying Xu, Waqar Ahmed

Addresses: Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, MET, College of Technology, Purdue University, 401 North Grant Street, West Lafayette, Indiana, IN 47907-2021, USA. ' Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, P.O. Box 162450, Orlando, Florida FL 32816, USA. ' School of Computing, Physical Sciences and Technology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire PR1 8ST, UK

Abstract: The efficiency of micro cutting tools that are used in high-speed air turbine spindles depends on the rotational speed of the rotor, especially when machining medical materials such as titanium alloys. A high-pressure variation on the surface of the rotor causes the rotor to retard and this severely limits the reliability and durability of high-speed spindles to support new developments in the developing area of micromachining. A variety of spindle designs are proposed and numerical simulations carried out for each design using FLUENT software. The results revealed that changes in the rotor, inlet and outlet geometries affect the pressure distribution on the rotor significantly. The optimum design was identified based on the lowest pressure variation on the rotor surface obtained from the FLUENT results. Spinning the rotor at very high speeds provides a new direction in the development of mechanical micromachining.

Keywords: high-speed spindles; HSS; micromachining; medical materials; air turbine spindles; rotational speed; titanium alloys; computational fluid dynamics; CFD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNBM.2009.028341

International Journal of Nano and Biomaterials, 2009 Vol.2 No.6, pp.520 - 539

Published online: 16 Sep 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article