Simulation of a Finishing Operation: Milling of a Turbine Blade and Influence of Damping

Milling is used to create very complex geometries and thin parts, such as turbine blades. Irreversible geometric defects may appear during finishing operations when a high surface quality is expected. Relative vibrations between the tool and the workpiece must be as small as possible, while tool/workpiece interactions can be highly non-linear. A general virtual machining approach is presented and illustrated. It takes into account the relative motion and vibrations of the tool and the workpiece. Both deformations of the tool and the workpiece are taken into account. This allows predictive simulations in the time domain. As an example the effect of damping on the behavior during machining of one of the 56 blades of a turbine disk is analysed in order to illustrate the approach potential.