A Study of Sub-region Machining with Variable Cutting Depth Strategy for Reducing the Cutting-force Fluctuation in Ultra-precision Diamond Turning of High Steepness Microstructures

Ultra-precision diamond turning has been increasingly used in fabricating microstructural surface for optical component molds to obtain the high-quality surface finish. However, microstructures with high steepness, I.e., high ratio of depth and size of the element, are prone to cause dramatical fluctuation of cutting force during the machining process, which adversely deteriorate the final surface finish and even lead to severe machining problems. In this paper, a study of the effect of cutting depth on the fluctuation of cutting force is conducted. Hence, an optimization strategy for the cutting depth to minimize the fluctuation of cutting force is built. Firstly, a cutting-force evaluation model is built to analyse interrelationship between the cutting depth and the cutting force which provides guidance for optimizing the processing parameters in practice. Hence, a sub-regional machining with variable cutting depth strategy is developed for minining the fluctuation of cutting in machining high steepness microcstructured surface. A series of cutting have conducted and the experimental results proves the effectiveness of the novel strategy. © 2023 Proceedings - ASPE 2023 Annual Meeting. All rights reserved.