Modeling of a Polishing Tool to Simulate Material Removal

Abstract

In plastic injection mould and prosthesis industries, `mirror-effect` polished surfaces are required for obtaining transparent parts or surfaces without scratches. Traditionally done manually, we have proposed to automate polishing on 5-axis machining centre using a passive elastomeric carrier. One of the main advantages of automatic polishing is the repeatability of the machine movements in order to achieve restricted form deviations. However, the material removal rate (MRR) during polishing depends on parameters such as contact pressure, relative velocity and tool wear. We have thus developed a model dedicated to our process to compute the effective MRR along the polishing tool path regarding the contact area and the contact pressure between the tool and the part