Measurement of the contact area of a dovetail milling cutter using an ultrasonic method

Abstract Since there is no reliable mathematical model to analyze a multi-points contact simultaneously, the most effective way to know the contact area is to use experimental method directly. This study measures the contact area between a dovetail milling cutter and a steel plate by using ultrasound for regional scanning. This is a novel application for milling cutters and has not been applied before. The transducer emits an ultrasonic pulse to detect the contact surface. If contact occurs, the pulse is partially transmitted into the specimen. Therefore, the signal reflected back to the pulse receiver is reduced. The amount by which the signal amplitude is reduced is a measure of the degree of contact. The contact area between a dovetail milling cutter and specimen is calculated using an image analysis software package. The range of contact areas varies from 4 mm 2 to 50 mm 2 , depending on the contact force and the definition of the contrast ratio. The distribution map shows that the most common range of contact area is 10–40 mm 2 .