Multi-edge Endmill Chip Discharge for Thin-Walled Impellers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-flute endmills struggle with high-feed processing of thin-walled impellers made from difficult-to-cut materials like nickel-based alloys, as they cannot efficiently discharge chips during high-feed cutting, leading to reduced precision and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The multi-flute endmill design features a unique structure with intersecting rake and gash surfaces, a V-shaped gash, and a large chip pocket volume, allowing for effective chip discharge and improved cutting efficiency by inclining peripheral cutting edges and corner R edges, and applying an AlCr-based hard coating for enhanced durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional multi-flute endmills are used for high-feed processing of thin-walled impellers, then cutting efficiency can be improved, but chip discharge becomes insufficient leading to reduced precision and tool damage
Solution Approach 1:
The flute is segmented into multiple functional zones: upper flute portion for chip collection, lower flute portion for chip discharge, and a communication passage connecting them. This segmentation allows chips to be efficiently transported from the cutting zone through the communication passage to the discharge zone, preventing chip congestion while maintaining high cutting speeds and feed rates
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a third dimensional aspect to chip discharge by creating a communication passage that extends axially between the upper and lower flute portions. This vertical dimensionality change enables chips to be discharged along the tool axis direction, providing an additional chip ejection path that complements the traditional radial discharge, thereby improving chip removal efficiency at high feed rates
2Productivity
If high feed rates are used for high-feed processing, then productivity increases, but chip congestion occurs leading to tool damage and reduced reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful factor of chip congestion is extracted and removed by designing a dedicated communication passage that actively transports chips away from the cutting zone. The lower flute portion serves as a separate chip discharge chamber that extracts chips from the high-feed cutting environment, preventing accumulation and the associated tool damage, thereby extending tool life even at high feed rates
Solution Approach 2:
The communication passage acts as an intermediary channel between the upper flute portion (chip generation zone) and the lower flute portion (chip discharge zone). This intermediary structure facilitates smooth chip flow, preventing chip jamming and reducing the harmful effects of chip congestion on tool reliability and longevity
Data Source
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AI summary
[Problem] To improve the discharge of chips generated when performing high-feed processing on a thin-walled material such as an impeller using a multi-flute endmill. [Resolution Means] A multi-flute endmill 1 comprising a cutting edge part 3 having multiple cutting edges and flutes 8 formed between adjacent cutting edges in a rotation direction around the tool axis O, wherein a rake face of each cutting edge is formed from a rake face 6a of an end cutting edge 6 from the tool axis O side to the outer peripheral side of a shank 2, an adjacent rake face 5a of a corner R edge 5 that forms a surface different from the rake face 6a of the end cutting edge 6, and an adjacent rake face 4a of a peripheral cutting edge 4 that forms a surface different from the rake face 5a of the corner R edge 5. A gash 7 that forms a space that is continuous with the flute 8 is formed between the rake face 6a of the end cutting edge 6 and a flank 6b of an end cutting edge 6 that is adjacent on a forward side thereof in the rotation direction R, and the rake face 6a of the end cutting edge 6 also serves as one surface that constitutes the gash 7.