Study on new thermal error compensation method for complex surface five-axis machining based on new experimental strategy

Five-axis machine tools are well-suited for processing complex surface parts. However, during the machining process, thermal error can have a significant impact on the machining accuracy. To propose an accountable on-line compensation method for five-axis milling, this paper developed a new experimental device for in-situ measurements of thermal-induced displacements in both X- and Y-axis directions. With the help of this self-developed device, a five-axis milling experiment was carried out to collect the temperature change of key thermal points and thermal-induced error during continuous impeller milling. A thermal error prediction model was established with collected data and a thermal error compensation system was developed for the five-axis milling accordingly. The following validation experiment showed that the surface profile error of the blades of milled impeller can be stabilized within the range of 0.1 mm with the help of proposed the thermal error compensation system. The results of the validation experiment proved the effectiveness of the proposed method for the reduction of thermal error during the five-axis milling.