difference. which acompanycanmake the Six domainswereidentifiedin of machinery, controlandtooling. time itposeschallengesinterms this opportunity, butatthesame Precision manufacturingoffers of standingoutfromthecrowd. of uniqueadvantagesandways combination ofhavingarange global market requires a Successfully competingina SURFACE FINISH ACHIEVING AHIGH-QUALITY

polishing, hascutleadtimesby50%. and productioncosts.Automation, bymeansofrobot-assisted roughness with nanometric precision while reducing lead times operations andinnovativefinishingtechnologycanachievesurface State-of-the-art toolsforhigh-qualitysurfacefinishmachining ‘Achieving ahigh-qualitysurfacefinish’. precision manufacturing.Theseconddomainwewilldiscuss,is have identifiedsixdomainsprovidingopportunitiestoexcel within Equipment ManufacturersandTier12subcontractors A wide-rangingsurveyofBelgianmanufacturingindustry, Original OPPORTUNITIES TO EXCEL SIX DOMAINSPROVIDING 1

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of surfaceroughnessneedtobeintroduced. new andinnovativetechnologiesforachievingextremelylowlevels and costly operation. To is often,ifnotalways,manualpolishing,whichatime-consuming common. Thecurrentsolutionforobtainingthislevelofsurfacefinish 0.05 µm.Foropticallenses,Ra valuesbetween1and5nmare injection mouldsforhighlypolishedplasticpartsrangefrom0.03 to depending on the functionality of a surface. Typical Ra values of and engine parts). The desired surface roughness will vary and surfaceswithalowfrictioncoefficient (e.g. turbinecomponents finish), sealingfunctionbetweentwosurfaces,anti-sticksurfaces and mouldmaking(e.g. injectionmouldswithahigh-qualitygloss purposes, a variety of sectors: the optical industry (lenses), tool An extremelylowlevelofsurfaceroughnessisrequiredforvarious MARKET NEED reduce leadtimes and production costs, 2

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory 1.Robotic FinishingProcess –anExtrusionDieCaseStudy’ representing 12to15%ofthemanufacturingcosts of mouldscantake upto50%ofthetotalproductiontime, thereby depending onthepolisher’s levelofexperience. Manualfinishing a time-consumingandthusexpensiveoperation,withtheresult Manual polishingisthecommonesttechnologyusedtodaybut POTENTIAL &CHALLENGES strategies. potential ofnewinnovativetechnologiesusingonethesetwo Besides thesewell-knownsolutions,researchhasshownthe (40% reductionoftheRa obtainedafterturning). be foundinarotaryvibrator(downto0.020 µm)orrollerburnishing looking toreplacethemanualpolishingstage, solutionscanalready processes canbeusedtoachieveresultsbelow0.020 µm.When roughness down to 0.025 µm. Also electrochemical machining often custommade, grindingwheelscanresultinbringingthesurface In termsofthefinishingstep, grindingtechnologyusingoptimised, solutions arealreadybeingappliedonthemarket. need forpolishing,and/orinnovatingthepolishingprocess.Both optimising thefinishing (machining)operation, thuseliminatingthe times andreducedproductioncostscanbeachievedintwoways: 1 . Shorterlead 3

©Sirris Conventional superfinishtechnologies polishing Manual Technology Grinding burnishing Roller vibrator Rotary (ECM) Machining chemical Electro- Description paste paper and using polishing operation Manual with abrasives grinding wheel Rotating pressure hydraulic constant sphere under of aceramic by means of surface deformation Plastic fluid abrasives and filled with Vibrating bowl process trochemical means ofelec- material by trode removes vibrating elec- Shaped and roughness Ra Achievable surface 0.001 µm 0.025 µm Ra afterturning 40% decreasein 0.02 µm < 0.02 µm Speed 10 –30min/cm² 2 –40mm²/s turning Similar speedto finish desired surface ding onthe hours depen- minutes to Ranging from 1.5 cm³/min Advantages limitations +: Noshape +: +: +: +: +: +: +: Notoolwear +:  technology Well-known resistance fatigue Higher grinding than stresses residual Less (2-3 HRC) hardness Increased effects Deburring volume High- stresses No residual

Disadvantages -:  -: Slow -: -: -: -: -:  -:  quality Variable accuracy dimensional Loss of stresses Residual limitations Shape parts) symmetrical (rotary limitations Shape accuracy dimensional Loss of process Slow shaping 4

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory Mirror facemilling ofaluminum with aroughnessRa of0.167 µm. emerged when free-form milling was used, producing brass surfaces 0.43 µm forRz. The benefits ofmonocrystalline diamondalso lead toaroughnessof0.063 µminthecaseofRa andoneof improvement byafactorof3ontheusecarbidetools,which surface roughnesses of 0.021 µmforRa and0.15 µmforRz,i.e. an aluminium 7022,theuseofmonocrystallinediamondsresultedin axis high-precisionmillingmachine. Inthecase of facemilling and free-formmillingoperationshavebeentestedonafive- compared withmachiningcarbidetools.Bothfacemilling ferrous metalsleadstoanextremelylowlevelofsurfaceroughness Milling withmonocrystallineandpolycrystalline diamonds in non- accuracy, machiningconditions and alsotheworkshopenvironment. axis, clampingaccuracy, reference-pointaccuracy, tooldiameter parameters, e.g. thepositional accuracy ofthemachine-tool leap. Therefore, the initial stage is to identify all the influencing will be reached through many small steps rather than in one giant and optimised.Inmanyifnotallcases,thiskindofprecisionlevel machine, alltheinfluencingparametersneedtobeknown,controlled To achievemicrometricprecisionlevelsonafive-axismilling RESEARCH RESULTS 5

©Sirris particularly suitableforhardandhardenedmaterials. ultrasonic frequency. AsurfacequalityRa ofbelow0.003 µmis while rotatingathighspeedasaresultofmilling, andvibratingat use ofacylindricaltoolfittedwithdiamondpaste toremovematerial market isultrasonicassistedgrinding(UAG). This technologymakes A promisingtechnologythathasfoundalready itswayontothe a chemical or physical process to support the main cutting process. In recentyears,researchhasinvestigatedhybridtechnologiesusing was 0.367 µm. value of0.331 µmwasobtained,whileforstainlesssteel316L,this tools. Whenfree-formmillingwasusedontitanium(Ti6Al4V),anRa strategy forobtainingahigh-qualitysurfacefinishusingcarbide suited to being machined by diamond tools, has led to an optimized quality surfacefinish. Research onferrousmaterials,whicharenot conditions andstrategiesareequallyimportanttoachievingahigh- However, thecuttingtoolisonlyonepartofequation.Milling Mirror millingfour-leafcloverinaluminum 6

©Sirris Innovative superfinishtechnologies polishing Plasma Technology polishing Laser ding ELID grin- Grinding Assisted Ultrasonic polishing assisted Robot- Description cal process Electrochemi- remelting Surface grinding wheel dressing of In-process tool rotating cutting Vibrating and robotic arm mounted ona Rotating tool roughness Ra Achievable surface < 0.01 µm 0.05 µm 0.005 µm < 0.003 µm < 0.03 µm Speed 1 min/cm² 1 mm³/s 5 µm/rev cm² 5 –20min/ +: Noforces +: Advantages +:  +: +:  +:  +:  effect Deburring zone affected Small heat- accuracy dimensional Maintaining life Longer tool forces Low cutting shing manual poli- Faster than -:  Disadvantages -:  -: -: -: of electrolyte Toxic waste tions Shape limita- parameters process optimal Identifying (radiuses) limitations Shape programming Robot 7

©Sirris consistently. polishing butonceprogrammed,resultscanberepeatedeasilyand is anoption.Robot polishingachievessimilarresultstomanual as 0.05 µm.If conventionalpolishingisstillrequired,automation electrochemical process. Both can achieve Ra values of as little melt thesurfacewhileplasmawillremovemetalionsduringan new technologies,suchasplasmaorlaserpolishing.Thewill If polishingcannotbeavoided,thereisthepossibilityofusing grained wheels(numbers6000to8000). surface finishonmaterials thataredifficult tomachinewithfine- and glazingproblems,enablinguninterruptedgrindingamirror looks highlypromising.TheELIDprocessminimiseswheelloading grinding wheeliscontinuouslydressedwhilethepartmachined, called electrolyticin-processdressing(ELID)grinding,inwhichthe and subsurfacedamage. To overcomethisproblem,anewprocess, tend toexperiencewheelloadingandglazing,producingscratches grinding wheels.However, duringgrinding,theseabrasivewheels finish (Ra of 0.005 µm)canbeachievedusingextremelyabrasive Grinding hardandbrittlematerialstoyieldahigh-qualitysurface 8

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture Mould cavityforrobot-assistedpolishing(a)CAD/(b) afterEDM/(c)polishing product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory quality in. 22 mm,ismanuallypolishedforabout15hourstoreachitsfinished form of manual polishing. Thecavity, which has dimensions of 44 x be subjectedtoapost-finishingoperationthatcurrentlytakes the between 0.8 and2.5µm).Thereforethefunctionalsurfacesneedto ish that is still too rough to be directly used in injection moulding (Ra which EDMfeaturesparticularlyprominently, achieveasurfacefin- (Ra of between 0.03 and 0.05 µm). Pre-work processes, among tion-moulding technologyandrequirehigh-qualitysurfacemoulds product portfolio. Thesebuttonsareproducedbymeansofinjec- control buttonsproducingahigh-qualityglossfinishaspartofits Niko, acompanyofferinginteriorbuildingsolutions,hasin-house INDUSTRIAL EXAMPLE 9

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory cavities). programming canbewrittenoffformultiplecomponents (e.g. mould ising solutiononthebasisthattimefor initialsetting-upand surface qualityisrequired,robot-assistedpolishing isaveryprom- ducing oreveneliminatingtheneedforpolishing. Ifanevenhigher achieve asurfaceroughnessinthenanometricrange, therebyre- tools, anoptimisedstrategyorevenanewtechnologycanalready ing uptothepolishingoperationneedbeoptimised.Newcutting times andcosts,inthefirstinstancemachiningprocesseslead- When lookingtoachievehigh-qualitysurfacesandreducelead SEIZING THEOPPORTUNITY as opposedto60hoursofmanualpolishing). 50% reductionintheleadtime(30hoursofrobot-assistedpolishing been done. In thecaseofafour-cavitymould,allthisresultsin only 5.5hoursisneeded,asallthepreparatoryworkhasalready so alreadylowerthanthemanual operation. Forthesecond cavity hours. Forthefirstmouldcavitytotalpolishingtimeis13.5hours, setting-up, programmingandpreparationofthetoolstakes eight Moreover, thisoperationcanbeperformedatnight-time. Theinitial Ra of 0.014 µm,with the quality exceeding that of manual polishing. time forthebottomandflanksis5.5hours,yieldingasurfacefinish tional module(basedonanexcentre) isused.Thetotal polishing equipped withaspindle(withprocesscontrolforce)andtransla- In thecaseofrobot-assistedpolishing,asix-axisindustrialrobot 10

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory • • • are atyourserviceto: The precisionmachininglab, itsinfrastructureandengineers, •  •  •  •  •  •  Various specifications: •  • alasertexturingmachineforsurfacefunctionalization •  •  •  The PrecisionMachiningLab atSirris: AT YOUR DISPOSAL EXPERTISE ANDFACILITIES cost-effective manufacturingofprecisioncomponents. provide youwithsupportregardtothemachinabilityand yourself; become conversantwithprecisionmachiningbeforeinvesting realise yourprototype precision components fornewapplications; measurement accuracyof1.7 μm+0.3 L/100μm(Linmm). CNC-controlled (scanning)measurementsfromCAD; clamping withmicrometricrepeatability; spindle: 20,000 rpm,24kW and120Nmat50-1,920rpm; machine travelrange:X:820mm;Y: 700mm;Z:450 milling ofprecisioncomponentstoanaccuracy3μm; an acclimatisedchamber. the MitutoyoApex-S3Dcoordinatemeasuringmachine; the high-precisionErowaclampingsystem; the FehlmannVersa 825five-axis high-precisionmillingcentre; 11

©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory sensors andreal-timedata. methods tocontrolprecision duringproductionwiththehelpof As aseniorengineer, Tom ishelping companieswithresearchon Expert MachiningAdvancedMaterialsandMonitoring Solutions Tom Jacobs precision. manufactured partsandmethodstoevaluate improvemachine prototype, realignmentproblemsandprecisionfinishingof additive Krist focusesonthefinishingprocessoptimisation ofthegear Expert High-precisionMilling Krist Mielnik technologies andadvancedmaterialsinparticular. precision machining. His interests lay in non-traditional machining Olivier isresponsibleforresearchandindustrialprojectsonhigh Expert MachiningAdvancedMaterialsandSurfaceFunctionality Olivier Malek own opportunities. defines theresearchstrategyandsupportsindustryindetectingtheir As responsibleforthePrecisionManufacturingdepartmentPeter Program Manager-PrecisionManufacturing Peter tenHaaf with industry, ourappliedresearchhasledtogame-changingresults. machines that,whilehigh-end,iswithinthereachofSMEs.Working has beenonachievingmicrometricprecisionlevelsfive-axismilling ing, hardturningandlaserablation.Overthelastfouryearsfocus bars, toolmanagement,high-speedmilling,five-axissimultaneousmill ganisation inBelgiumtointroduceNCprogramming,damped-boring experience inthefieldofmachiningtechnology. Sirriswasthefirstor Advanced ManufacturingDepartmentboastsmorethan60yearsof Sirris isthecollectivecentreforBelgiantechnologyindustry. The THE AUTHORS

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©Sirris business of thefuture business of thefuture product product product product of thefuture of thefuture of thefuture factory of thefuture factory of thefuture factory blog.sirris.be [email protected] www.sirris.be +32 27067944 B–1030 Brussel Boulevard A.Reyerslaan 80 DIAMANT BUILDING Technologie (IWT). supported byAgentschapvoorInnovatiedoorWetenschap en This publicationhasbeenmadewithintheframeworkof“VIS”and between The researchdescriptedwithinthispublicationwasacollaboration PARTNERS

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