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8th CIRP Conference on High Performance Cutting (HPC 2018)

8th CIRP Conference on High Performance Cutting (HPC 2018)
Milling of Fir-Tree Slots in Allvac 718 plus
Milling
28th CIRPofDesign
Fir-Tree SlotsMay
Conference, in 2018,
Allvac 718France
Nantes, plus
Klocke, F.aa, Seimann, M.aa*, Binder, M., Doebbeler, B.aa
A new methodology toF.analyze
Klocke, the
, Seimann, M.functional
*, Binder, M.,and physical
Doebbeler, B. architecture of
Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), Steinbachstraße 19, 52074 Aachen, Germany
a

existing products for an

Laboratory for Machine
a
Tools assembly oriented
and Production Engineering product19, family
(WZL), Steinbachstraße 52074 Aachen,identification
Germany
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-241-8028020; fax: +49-241-8022293. E-mail address: m.seimann@wzl.rwth-aachen.de
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-241-8028020; fax: +49-241-8022293. E-mail address: m.seimann@wzl.rwth-aachen.de
Paul Stief *, Jean-Yves Dantan, Alain Etienne, Ali Siadat
École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, LCFC EA 4495, 4 Rue Augustin Fresnel, Metz 57078, France
Abstract
Abstract
*For
Corresponding
the machiningauthor.
of Tel.: +33 3grooves
profiled 87 37 54in30; E-maildiscs
turbine address:
madepaul.stief@ensam.eu
out of nickel based alloys, broaching is still state of the art. However, the
broaching
For process entails
the machining somegrooves
of profiled disadvantages
in turbinelikediscs
highmade
costsout
andoflong delivery
nickel basedtimes forbroaching
alloys, the machine tools
is still andofthe
state thebroaches in combination
art. However, the
with inflexibility
broaching processwith regard
entails someto disadvantages
the groove geometry
like highandcosts
machining
and long task. An alternative
delivery times for tothethe broaching
machine toolsprocess
and theisbroaches
the integration of the
in combination
profile
with slotting onwith
inflexibility a 5-axis milling
regard to thecenter.
grooveThis paper and
geometry dealsmachining
with an approach
task. Anfor machining
alternative a fir-tree
to the slot via
broaching different
process is themilling process
integration chains.
of the
Abstract
The twoslotting
profile roughing
on astrategies, ceramic
5-axis milling side This
center. milling anddeals
paper carbide
withend
anmilling,
approach arefordepicted witha regard
machining fir-treetoslot
toolviawear and the
different economy.
milling Thechains.
process finished
fir-tree
The twoslot will bestrategies,
roughing evaluated ceramic
in terms side
of dimensional
milling andstability.
carbide endIn addition, the depicted
milling, are possibility of finish
with regardbroaching
to tool wear on and
a five-axis machine
the economy. tool
The is
finished
Inshown.
today’s
fir-tree business
slot will be environment, the trend
evaluated in terms towards more
of dimensional product
stability. In variety
addition,andthecustomization is unbroken.
possibility of finish broaching Dueontoathis development,
five-axis machinethetoolneed
is of
shown.
agile and reconfigurable production systems emerged to cope with various products and product families. To design and optimize production
systems
© 2018as Thewell as to choose
Authors. Publishedthebyoptimal
Elsevierproduct matches,
Ltd. This product
is an open analysis
access articlemethods
under the areCC needed.
BY-NC-NDIndeed,license
most of the known methods aim to
©
© 2018
2018aTheThe Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
analyze product or one product family on theLtd.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) physical level. Different product families, however, may differ largely in terms of the number and
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
Peer-review
nature under
of components. responsibility
This under ofresponsibility
the International
fact impedes an efficient Scientific
comparison Committee
and of the
choice of 8th CIRP Conference
appropriate on High Performance Cutting (HPC
Selection and peer-review of the International Scientific Committee of product family
the 8th CIRP combinations
Conference for
on High thePerformance
production
Peer-review
2018). A(HPC
system.
Cutting newunder responsibility
methodology
2018). of the International
is proposed Scientific
to analyze existing Committee
products in viewof of
thetheir
8th CIRP Conference
functional on High
and physical Performance
architecture. TheCutting
aim is(HPC
to cluster
2018).
these products in new assembly oriented product families for the optimization of existing assembly lines and the creation of future reconfigurable
assembly
Keywords: systems. Based
Allvac 718 plus,on Datum
Fir-tree Flow
slots, Chain, the physical structure of the products is analyzed. Functional subassemblies are identified, and
Milling
a Keywords:
functionalAllvac 718 is
analysis plus, Fir-tree slots,
performed. Milling a hybrid functional and physical architecture graph (HyFPAG) is the output which depicts the
Moreover,
similarity between product families by providing design support to both, production system planners and product designers. An illustrative
example of a nail-clipper is used to explain the proposed methodology. An industrial case study on two product families of steering columns of
1. Introduction
thyssenkrupp Presta France is then carried out to give a first industrial evaluation ECM ofare electro approach.
the proposed erosive processes. Nevertheless, high
©1.2017
Introduction
The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. ECM are electro
requirements are placed erosive
on the processes. Nevertheless,
milling process. The work piece high
Broaching
Peer-review underisresponsibility
the standard machining
of the scientific operation
committee for CIRP
of the 28th requirements
materials are placed
are hard-to-machine
Design Conference 2018.on the milling process. The work
nickel based alloys, that results piece
Broaching profiled
manufacturing is the slots
standard machining
in turbine operation
disks out of for
nickel based materials
in a rapidare hard-to-machine
increase of the tool nickel based
wear [9]. alloys,material
Cutting that results
and
manufacturing
aeroprofiled
alloys inAssembly;
Keywords: Designslots
engine in turbine
method; disks
Family[1].
industries outisof because,
identification
This nickel based
by tool geometry have to be adapted, in order to ensure and
in a rapid increase of the tool wear [9]. Cutting material the
alloys
broaching in aero engine
the high industries with
requirements [1]. This
respectis tobecause,
geometry, by tool geometryaccuracy
dimensional have toofbetheadapted,
groove indespite
order advanced
to ensure tool
the
broaching the high requirements with respect
surface integrity and roughness can be fulfilled [2–4]. High- to geometry, dimensional accuracy of the groove despite
wear. For this the dimensional accuracy is the most important advanced tool
surfacesteel
speed integrity
is used andasroughness can be fulfilled
cutting material, [2–4].inHigh-
what results low wear. For this
criterion for thethe dimensional
finisher tool. accuracy is the most
However, important
medium-sized
1. Introduction of the product range and characteristics manufactured and/or
speed steel is used as cutting material, what
cutting speeds up to vc = 5 m/min [5]. In combination with the results in low criterion for the finisher tool. However,
companies, for which the procurement of a broaching machine medium-sized
assembled in this system. In this context, the main challenge in
cutting
low speedsspeeds,
cutting up to vc expensive
= 5 m/min [5]. In combination
special machine tools with are
the companies,
tool for which
is not possible the an
from procurement of a broaching
economic point machine
of view, or in the
Due to the fast development in the domain of modelling and analysis is now not only to cope with single
low cutting speeds, expensive special machine
required for the broaching process. These are not suitable for tools are case of capacity pressures, the milling of profile groovesinmay
tool is not possible from an economic point of view, or the
communication and an ongoing trend of digitization and products, a limited product range or existing product families,
required for the broaching process. These are
other machining tasks. This makes broaching to a bottle neck not suitable for case of capacity pressures,
represents an interesting alternative.the milling of profile grooves may
digitalization, manufacturing enterprises are facing important but also to be able to analyze and to compare products to define
other machining
process, which istasks.
reservedThisformakes
large broaching
suppliers andto aOEMs
bottle only.
neck represents an interesting alternative.
challenges in today’s market environments: a continuing new product families. It can be observed that classical existing
process, which is reserved for large suppliers and
In addition, there are long delivery times for broaching tools, OEMs only. 2. Experimental investigations
tendency towards reduction of product development times and product families are regrouped in function of clients or features.
In addition,
which makesthere are long
broaching deliveryconcerning
inflexible times for broaching
a change of tools,
the 2. Experimental investigations
shortened product lifecycles. In addition, there is an increasing However, assembly oriented product families are hardly to find.
which makes broaching inflexible concerning
slot geometry [6]. A more flexible alternative is the use of a change of the 2.1. Work piece material
demand of customization, being at the same time in a global On the product family level, products differ mainly in two
slot geometry
alternative [6]. A more
machining flexible
processes for alternative is thesuch
profile slotting use as of 2.1. Work piece material
competition with competitors all over the world. This trend, main characteristics: (i) the number of components and (ii) the
alternative
EDM, ECMmachining
or milling processes
[7; 8]. Thefor profile of
advantage slotting
millingsuch as
is that Within this work, all experimental investigations were
which
EDM, is inducing
ECMtoorbroaching the development
milling [7;a 8]. from
The process,
advantage macro
of millingto micro
is that type of components
Within this the (e.g.all
work, mechanical,
experimentalelectrical, electronical).
investigations were
it is similar cutting whereas EDM and conducted with nickel based alloy Allvac 718 plus (Allvac).
markets, results in diminished lot sizes due
it is similar to broaching a cutting process, whereas EDM and to augmenting conducted with the nickel based alloy Allvac 718 plus products
Classical methodologies considering mainly single (Allvac).
product varieties (high-volume to low-volume production) [1]. or solitary, already existing product families analyze the
To cope with
2212-8271 © 2018this
Theaugmenting variety
Authors. Published as wellLtd.
by Elsevier asThis
to be able
is an opento access product structure
article under on a physical
the CC BY-NC-ND level (components level) which
license
identify possible
© 2018 The optimization potentials
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
2212-8271 Authors. Published in This
by Elsevier Ltd. the is existing
an open access causes difficulties
article under regarding
the CC BY-NC-ND licensean efficient definition and
Peer-review under responsibility of the International
to have aScientific
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
production system, it is important precise Committee
knowledge of the 8th CIRP Conference
comparison of on High Performance
different productCutting (HPC 2018)..
families. Addressing this
Peer-review©under
2212-8271 2018responsibility
The Authors. of the International
Published Scientific
by Elsevier Committee of the 8th CIRP Conference on High Performance Cutting (HPC 2018)..
Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection ©
2212-8271 and peer-review
2017 under
The Authors. responsibility
Published of the
by Elsevier International Scientific Committee of the 8th CIRP Conference on High Performance Cutting
B.V.
(HPC 2018).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 28th CIRP Design Conference 2018.
10.1016/j.procir.2018.08.297
410 F. Klocke et al. / Procedia CIRP 77 (2018) 409–412
2 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2018) 000–000

Compared to the standard alloy for low preasure turbine discs with a d = 7.6 mm internal cooled carbide drill. After this, in
Inconel 718, Allvac 718 plus has an increased hot hardness by process chain one (PC 1) two carbide end mills (Tool 1 and 2)
approx. 55 K [10; 11]. The chemical composition of Alvac were used to open the slot. For the second process chain (PC 2)
compared to Inconel 718 is given in Table 1. The content of two ceramic side milling tools (Tool 11/12) were used to open
iron in Allvac is lower, replaced by the addition of wolfram and the slot [14] followed by a carbide end mill (Tool 1/2) for
cobalt and a higher content of aluminum yielding better high aligning the groove with the next tool. After this the first profile
temperature properties [12]. milling cutter (Tool 3) was applied in all process chains which
generates the first undercuts and the highest material removal
Table 1: Chemical compositon Allvac 718 plus compared to Inconel 718 rate of the carbide cutters. This milling step was followed by
Tool 6 and Tool 7 for the finishing operation of the slot, Table
Ni C Cr Mo W Co Fe Nb Ti Al
2. In case of process chain 3 the slot was finished by a
Inconel 54 0.02 18 2.8 - - 18 5.4 1 0.5 broaching operation on the five-axis-machine tool. The
Allvac
51 0.02 18 2.8 1 9 10 5.4 0.7 1.5
Kennametal cutting material K20F was applied for all carbide
718plus end mills.
The fine grained microstructure of Allvac is depicted in
Figure 1. Niobium and titanium compounds are embedded in Table 2: Process Parameters of the Milling Processes
the matrix [10]. The machinability of Allvac is slightly more Tool Cutting Speed Feed per tooth
challenging than the machinability of Inconel, due to the higher #/- vc / m/min fz / mm
temperature strength which yields less thermal softening during
the cutting process. The test work pieces of both materials were 0 25 0.08
machined in fully aged condition to ensure comparability to the 1 30 0.02
normal manufacturing route of turbine discs.[13]
2 30 0.015
Allvac 718plus Inconel 718
3 30 0.025
6 25 0.015
7 30 0.015
11 1000 0.12

20 µm 20 µm 12 1000 0,12

Figure 1: Cross sections of Allvac 718 plus and Inconel 718 Broach 2.5

2.2. Experimental setup Spindle

In the cutting experiments three process chains for milling Broaching

of one chosen high pressure turbine (HPT) disc geometry were tool holder
investigated. The inclination angle of the profile was λ = 10° in
all tests. The three process chains including the cutting Broaching
tool
parameters and a schematic drawing of the manufactured
profile are depicted in Figure 2 and Table 2. Thereby, process
Cover
chain 3 was identic to process chain 2 followed by a broaching
operation which was integrated on the five-axis machine tool. Workpiece
Aim of the additional broaching process was to reach higher h = 25 mm
cutting path length with regard to dimension stability of the slot Clamping
and, therefor, higher economics. device
PC 1

0 1 2 3 6 7 Sche- Machine
matic table
draw-
PC 2

0 11 12 3 6 7 ing Figure 3: Broaching on a five-axis machine tool

The experiments were conducted on a DMG MORI DMU
PC 3

0 11 12 3 6 7 Br.
80 FD - duoBlock, which was equipped with a spindle power
of P = 16 kW, a maximum torque of M = 430 Nm, a maximum
Figure 2: Process chains and schematic drawing of the underling slot spindle speed of n = 12,000 1/min and a maximum feed force
of the axis (x/y/z) of F = 13/18/25 kN. The Allvac disc with a
All process chains begin with chamfering of the bore thickness of 26 mm was mounted on a work piece holder on the
followed by the drilling operation (Tool 0) of the bucket groove machine tool table. Within the tests, down-milling for the
 F. Klocke et al. / Procedia CIRP 77 (2018) 409–412 411
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2018) 000–000 3

ceramic tools, Tool 1 and Tool 7 was applied. Since the other
tools travel centered through the groove one side of the tool
was cutting in down and one in up direction. During the
ceramic machining process, no lubrication was used for the
side mill tools because of the sensitivity of the ceramic cutting
material regarding thermal shock. Pressurized air was delivered
through the spindle and tool holder to the rake faces of the
cutting inserts in order to evacuate the chips and to avoid
adhesion to the tool. For the carbide tools and the broach flood
lubrication with 8% Rhenus 43P emulsion was used. The tool
clamping was realized with HSK-A 100 clamping device via a
shrinking chuck for the end mills and for the side mills with a
130 mm milling cutter head. The broaching tool was fixed in a
specially designed and manufactured tool holder, Figure 3.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Tool wear tests
Tool 3
500
Max. width of flank wear
machined groove. In Figure 4 the position of VBmax marked by
the red circle and the tool wear development for Tool 3, Tool 6
and Tool 7 are shown, because those tools were determining
the end of tool life for all investigated process chains.
Unattached from the process chain (PC) and therefor from the
roughing process the tool wear development was allways
compareable. For detailed tool life tests of the ceramic side
mills please refer to Klocke et al. [14]. For all investigated
process chains the width of flank wear land of the carbide end
mills Tool 1/2, Tool 2, Tool 6 and Tool 7 increase linear. The
transition tool between ceramic and carbide process was called
Tool 1/2. After 11 slots the maximum width of flank wear land
was less than VBmax = 100 μm. Based on this results a tool life
time of about 20 slots can assumed for this tools. However, for
process chain 1 and 2 the tool life time criterion for Tool 7 is
the metrological assessment of the machined groove. Chipping
at the outer cutting edge of Tool 3 chipping appears after three
slots because of the geometric cutting conditions at this point.
One possibility for reducing tool wear and chipping is the use
of a standard end mill for pre-processing of the critical conture
point. With this strategy, the tool life time could doubled to six
slots without chipping and to 12 slots, if chipping of the cutting

400 edge will be allowed.

land VBmax / μm

300 3.2. Metrological and metallographic assessment of the

200 machined grooves
100 Fir Tree Broaching on a
Fir Tree Milling after 6 slots
Machine Tool after 6 slots
0
Path length / mm 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Number of slots/ - 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Tool 6
500
wear land VBmax / μm
Max. width of flank

400
300
200
100
0
Figure 5: Optical measurement of the milled and finished broached slot
Path length / mm 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Number of slots/ - 0 For application and validation of an alternative machining
2 4 6 8 10 12
process chain for profiled grooves the metrological and
Tool 7 metallographic accuracy of the slot are from main importance.
500 For this reason, tests of the profiled grooves were conducted.
µmmax / μm
Max. width of flank

400 Figure 5 shows the optical “Vialog“ measurements of one

milled and one on a five-axis machine tool broached slot after
300
land/ VB

6 slots of tool life. In case of the milled slot, at the bucket and
200 at the internal radii of the flanks the geometric accuracy can not
wearVB

be ensured because of the tool wear, although the maximum

100
width of flank wear land was at about VB max = 100 μm for the
0 relevant finishing Tool 7. At the broached slot, no geometric
Path length / mm 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 failure could be observed after the same number of slots, even
Number of slots/ - 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 though broaching on a five-axis machine tool is a special
application with regard to the stiffness.
From the economic point of view the application of the
Figure 4: Tool wear measurement for Tool 3, 6, 7 broaching process is beneficial compared to an only milling
strategy, because of the significant increased number of
profiled slots per tool life cycle without geometric error. Of
To assess the tool wear the maximum width of flank wear land course the costs of a finish broach are factor 5 higher then of a
VBmax was measured for all carbide tools every second
412 F. Klocke et al. / Procedia CIRP 77 (2018) 409–412
4 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2018) 000–000
finish milling tool. Compared to this the number of
manufactured slots in one life cycle is factor 300 higher.
In Figure 6 transversal (orthogonal to the feed direction) and
longitudinal cross sections (in feed direction) of the milled fir-
tree slot are shown. As place of the shown pictures the point of
maximum influence on the surface was chosen. On every cross
section the detected impact on the surface integrity was below
9 μm. Furthermore, no white edging layer was determined. No
cross sections were prepared of the broached slots, because
HSS broaching is already the certified process with respect to
surface integrity.
Transverse Cross Section Longitudinal Cross Section
9 μm
20 μm
20 μm
Figure 6: Transversal (right) and longitudinal (left) cross section of the milled
slots
4. Conclusions and outlook
Based on the presented experimental results for the profile
milling process and the finish broaching process on a five-axis
machine tool can be drawn. All tests in this work were done for
one specific profile.
 With regard to the surface integrity and the
metrological accuracy, milling is an alternative to
broaching to increase flexibility when producing fir-
tree slots.
 Roughing of grooves with ceramic or carbide milling
tools is possible. However the milling strategy and
the tool life in parts is predefined by the slot
geometry.
 For the milling process chains the tool life of the
finishing tool (Tool 7) has to be defined with regard
to the metrological accuracy of the slot and not by the
width of flank wear land VB. Due to the very small
profile end of tool life was detected after 5 to 6 slots
for Tool 7.
 An alternative process step to increase the tool life of
the finisher (Tool 7) is to implement the finishing
broaching process step on the machine tool. Besides,
broaching with high speed steel is already a certified
process. A new certification of this process chain like
for all other alternative process chains is not
necessary in this case.
 The tool life time of Tool 7 could be increased to 20
slots with the additional broaching step of process
chain 3 to improve the geometric accuracy. This leads
to a significant increase of economy compared to
process chains 1 and 2.
 For the milling process chains the first tools with
undercuts (Tool 3) were the critical ones with regard
to the tool life. In further work this tools could
replaced or complemented by machine tool broaching
steps.
 A process just with standard milling tools could be
realized when machining all undercuts by broaching
on the five-axis machine tool. An economic
evaluation will be made in the future.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
and the project supervision of the Project Management Agency
Karlsruhe (PTKA) within the project HoFePro (02PN2211).
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