ADVANCED MACHINING TECHNIQUES ON TITANIUM ROTOR PARTS

Rotorcraft companies must reduce their manufacturing costs to stay in the marketplace. A challenging manufacturing process is the milling of titanium production parts at fast rates with good quality. The purpose of this paper is to show the successful results of a three-year NRTC/RITA project effort to machine a titanium rotorcraft part twice as fast with advanced machining techniques involving vibration analysis to find stable cutting zones. These advanced machining techniques were developed by a team of high-speed machining professors at the University of Florida at Gainesville and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with Bell Helicopter, utilizing vibration analysis software, stable cutting zones, special cutting tools, stiffening techniques, and conventional machining equipment. The project goals were achieved using a synergy of technology and teamwork, with the purpose of transferring these new advanced machining techniques to Bell, Sikorsky, and Boeing to improve their productivity. The methods discussed here to obtain high rates of metal removal, stiffening of the machine system, and use of good cutting tools are applicable to the milling process for all rotorcraft metallic production parts, and are considered to be a breakthrough technology in reducing manufacturing costs.