Feasibility of Monitoring Mechanical Machining with a Chromatically Addressed Optical Fibre Photoelastic Sensor

:  This study considers the feasibility of monitoring forces acting on a cutting machine tool using chromatically addressed optical fibre based photoelastic sensors. The approach offers a cost–effective and versatile method for avoiding susceptibility to electromagnetic interference, with potential for providing sufficient frequency response for high-speed machining and for accommodating noisy, wide band optical wavelength signals. Measurements of the static and dynamic characteristics of such systems are presented along with results for interrupted turning in a real robust machining environment.