FEM-Based Prediction and Control of Milling Deformation for a Thin-Wall Web of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

This paper presents the prediction method of cutting force and dimensional error of Ti6Al4V alloy thin-wall components in end-milling operations. Based on the FEM simulation software and force-model, machining deformation was predicted by two kinds of FEM models, and then compared with the measured data. Results obtained from the proposed models and the tests show that the coupling model of thermal-mechanical having better agreement with the experimental results. Besides, the test results also prove the new tool-path pattern proposed in this paper is useful to reduce the machining error.