Deflection prediction on machining thin-wall monolithic aerospace components

Structural titanium alloys are coming in for increased use because they are light, ductile and have good fatigue and corrosion-resistance properties As a result; more manufacturing engineers are learning that machining these alloys can be a tricky job due to their unique physical and chemical properties. The problems are worsened when machining with the lowrigidity part which makes the precision difficult to master. This paper consist of two parts, a new CAD/CAE/CAM integrated methodology for predicting the surface errors when machining a thin-wall low rigidity component and secondly, the statistical analysis to determine the correlation between a criterion variable (form errors) and a combination of a predictor (cutting parameters and component attributes). The proposed model would be an efficient means for analysing the root cause of errors induced during machining of thin-wall parts and provide an input for downstream decision making on error compensation. A set of machining tests have been done in order to validate the accuracy of the model and the results between simulation and experiment were found in a good agreement