The manufacturing of monolithic aerospace structures entails development of complicated 5-axis tool paths containing thousands of lines of code and dozens of tool changes for milling and drilling operations.  In-cut machining cycle times of 50 -100 hours time are common. Meaningful reduction of cycle time while maintaining part quality is predicated upon the ability to model the physics of the machining operations. A methodology to predict forces and temperatures used for analyzing large, complicated 5-axis tool paths for aerospace structure machining is presented. The ability to accurately model lengths scales from the chip load (~100 microns), part thickness (~2 mm), cutter depths of cut (~10 mm) and over part dimensions (~10 m) is provided. Forces and temperatures are predicted over the entire tool path using analytical and numerical techniques to extend an empirical database to generalized cutting conditions. Comparison between measure and predicted forces are provided for validation. Primary barriers to achieving high metal removal rates of titanium and other hard to machine materials include: 1) lack of validated analytical development tools to reduce dependency on testing trial and error methods, 2) high cost and inefficient methods for testing new machining concepts, 3) inherently different machining characteristics (i.e. material characteristics and behavior during machining) of titanium and other hard to machine materials, and 4) high cost of raw materials.
This presentation will also demonstrate the application of new and existing modeling technology  to cost effectively reduce the first 3 of 4 barriers identified above. This will be accomplished by:  use of validated process modeling technology specifically developed for modeling metal cutting, use of process modeling techniques to significantly reduce the need (and cost) for testing while increasing the efficiency and successful implementation of new concepts, and use of validated material modeling technology already developed specifically for machining applications.