Title: Design of experiments to optimise automatic polishing on five-axis machine tool

Authors: Virgile Lacharnay; Christophe Tournier; Gérard Poulachon

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, ENS Cachan, 61 Avenue du Président Wilson, 94235 Cachan, France. ' Laboratoire Universitaire de Recherche en Production Automatise, ENS Cachan, Université Paris Sud 11, 61 Avenue du Président Wilson, 94235 Cachan, France. ' LaBoMaP/Department of Machining, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, 71250 Cluny, France

Abstract: Despite the large improvements in the field of high speed machining, manual polishing operations are still necessary to achieve high quality surfaces named mirror for mould and dies or prosthesis parts. This paper deals with the description of a new polishing method performed on a five-axis machine. This method is based on the use of an abrasive discs mounted on a flexible rotating tool describing trochoidal trajectories. Firstly, the influence of each polishing parameter on the surface roughness is highlighted on a conventional polishing machine currently used in material sciences. Based on this knowledge, a specific application concerning the polishing of a stainless medical prosthesis is detailed in order to get a mirror surface roughness which Ra is less than to 50 nm.

Keywords: automatic polishing; surface roughness; five-axis machining; abrasion; freeform surfaces; design of experiments; DOE; optimisation; surface quality; high speed machining; stainless steel; medical prostheses; abrasive machining; biomedical engineering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMM.2012.048559

International Journal of Machining and Machinability of Materials, 2012 Vol.12 No.1/2, pp.76 - 87

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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