Title: Modelling manufacturing errors in machining of thermoplastics

Authors: Luigino Filice, Francesco Gagliardi, Fabrizio Quadrini, Erica Anna Squeo, Vincenzo Tagliaferri

Addresses: Department of Mechanics, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. ' Department of Mechanics, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy

Abstract: A polyamide 66 (PA66) plate was machined by milling, and the deformation of the machined surface was acquired by using a coordinate-measuring machine. The plastic material was characterised in terms of density, thermal and thermo-mechanical properties to evaluate the distribution of the material properties across the thickness. As a result, the moulded material is not homogeneous and residual stresses cause the plate to distort after machining. A numerical procedure was proposed to predict the manufacturing errors resulting from the material removal from the plate. The numerical model was verified with the experimental data and was applied to plastic components with different shapes.

Keywords: plastics; machining; manufacturing errors; planarity error; thermoplastics; modelling; milling; surface deformation; residual stresses; material removal.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.021887

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.33 No.1, pp.72 - 80

Published online: 08 Dec 2008 *

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