Visualization of machining with the OPTIMIZER

3D process landscape with an envelope

QASS developed a new measuring method to evaluate machining and to optimize production – and realized it with the OPTIMIZER. Based on high resolution solid-borne sound the measuring computer visualizes the interaction between cutting tool and workpiece: every stripped chip results in a concise set of hills in the 3D landscape of the process.

To date these impacts of machining on cutting tool and machine were invisible. The OPTIMIZER is your window to a new world of microstructures - it will change your view on the machining process forever!

Machining

The main task in machining is to cut off parts of the workpiece efficiently. While material and geometry of the cutting tool is always different, the OPTIMIZER hears what is going on:

• If a chip is cut off,
• how the tool cuts through the microstructure,
• how efficient this cutting is
• and how sharp or blunt the cutting tool is.

And all this with an easy to install sensor which registers the ultrasonic pulses resulting from the cutting process.

Slow motion

The super fast sampling of the OPTIMIZER allows to watch the machining in slow motion. Even extremely short events in the process can be observed - not only on the surface, but also deep within the material: With the OPTIMIZER you look right into the machining itself, into drilling holes and under cutting oil.

Microstructures

Magnified by a microscope and in slow motion you find the source of the fast and high-frequency impulses: machining is not a smooth cutting but an erratic tearing of microscopic parts off the macrostructure; the prying out of crystallites, the shearing off of extremely small particles. From this perspective the cutting tool appears as a ram, breaking through brittle stone.

Every event of tearing and shearing results in shock waves. With high velocity (5,500 m/s in steel) these waves run through adjacent solid state bodies.

Oscillation

Seismic waves look similar, with the exception of the frequency: the OPTIMIZER detects the machining events in the higher frequencies. The faster the machining and the finer the structure, the shorter the interval of the consecutive shock waves and the higher the maximum oscillation.

OPTIMIZER

The OPTIMIZER is a measuring computer based on a high performance Linux PC-system with a special measuring hardware. This hardware is designed to handle ultrasonic signals (3GB/min). The OPTIMIZER interprets the signals in real-time and translates them into a 3D representation of the process. Analyze tools reduce signal noise, magnify relevant signals and identify differences to the former processes.

The facts:

• 100 MHz sample rate for up to four measuring channels.
• Up to 16 pre-amplifier and sensors.
• Saving of the measuring data with up to 80 MB/s per channel on removable mediums (up to 3,000 GByte).
• The removable mediums are hotplug-capable.
• IR Touch-Display for viewing and operating.
• 24V IO units for the direct communication with the machine control.
• Comprehensive software with analyze tools and automatic process control.

Process landscape

The process landscape generated by the OPTIMIZER depict the intensity of the impulse waves in time and frequency. Each machining results in a typical landscape. The higher the machining capacity, the stronger the impulse wave and the more distinct its representation in the process landscape.

If the process landscape appears less jagged and has a lower level in overall, then the average capacity is lower and the machining is smoother. As a general rule it is advantageous when the maximum capacity and the alternating load at cutting tool and material are low.

Material and process properties can be seen in the process landscape; its representation give information about the cutting oil and cooling liquid, about material strength and stress, about rotational frequency and angle of drilling or cutting, and so on.

Process identification

Immediately after measuring the process, it is easy to correlate events of machining with sections in the process landscape. Many process properties can be identified and thus can be made available for optimization. The grade of optimization is determined by repeated measuring.

Process control

Changes in the process landscape through worn out tools or similar events can be used for process control: manually adjustable thresholds allow an automatic monitoring and controlling based on machining performance and tool wear.

When you change parameters of the process while you examine the process landscape, you will see that optimizing these parameters will be intuitive, efficient and easy.