Burr Minimization in Face Milling: A Geometric Approach

Experimental studies indicate that two types of burrs occur in face milling–primary and secondary burr, which are sensitive to the depth of cut and cutter exit angle. The primary burr is much larger in size compared to the secondary burr and needs to be removed by a deburring operation subsequent to machining, for effective performance of precision parts. In this paper we present a strategy for minimizing burrs in face milling. We develop a representation in a CAD framework to parametrize the edges of a part into primary and secondary burr zones. We present an algorithm which minimizes the primary burrs along the edges of the part, using a variety of objective functions reflective of deburring complexity. The parameters varied in the optimization process are of a geometric nature, affecting the cutter exit angle, and include cutter approach angle, cutter center position and the cutter radius.