A novel spiral machining approach for blades modeled with four patches

This paper aims at developing a novel spiral machining technique for four- or five-axis milling of blades. The main contributions are twofold. First, detailed algorithms are presented to model the blade surface with the idea that it can be separated into four patches, i.e., the pressure surface, the suction surface, the leading edge surface, and the trailing edge surface. The G ¹ continuity across the boundary of each patch is considered. Second, based on the four patches modeled, the key routine of a new spiral machining method is further addressed in detail. It is carried out by machining the pressure and suction surfaces actually whereas passing by the leading and trailing edges in air cut. Experimental results show that the proposed methods can improve the machining quality and avoid overcut near the leading and trailing edges.