The need for a simple and reliable on-line tool wear sensing system is on the increase. Direct tool wear monitoring techniques are invariably off-line. Indirect measures of tool wear like cutting forces and vibration are influenced by many other factors resulting in poor correlation. A new sensing technique is proposed to detect the onset of a predetermined amount of flank wear. In a methodology that is being patented, the gross shape of the cutting tool is modified. A small portion of the cutting tool, well below the cutting edge, is designed to fracture at the onset of a particular amount of flank wear. This fracture event is detected using an Acoustic Emission sensor. With a modified gross shape for the insert, monitoring the raw Acoustic Emission signal is established to detect the worn tool status.
| Number of Pages : | 6 |
| Published : | 11/01/2000 |
