A solid trimming method to extract cutter-workpiece engagement maps for multi-axis milling

A solid trimming method is proposed to determine cutter-workpiece engagement (CWE) maps, which are essential to investigate cutting forces, machining errors, and chatter stability in multi-axis milling. In this method, CWE maps, defined as the instantaneous contact area from the cutting flutes' entrance to exit, are extracted by trimming the removal volume (RV) with the feasible contact surfaces. Compared to the traditional Boolean operation approach, the trimming method extracts CWE maps without the requirement of abundant surface/surface intersection operations. Moreover, instead of using the union solid model associated with all cutter locations, RV is calculated for the first time by introducing the existing concept of analytical tool swept volume, which is previously limited to tool path planning. Verification tests show that the proposed method has the advantages of high accuracy and efficiency.