Investigation of lead and tilt angle effects in 5-axis ball-end milling processes

5-axis milling is widely used in aerospace, die-mold and automotive industries, where complex surfaces and geometries are machined. Being special parameters of 5-axis milling, lead and tilt angles have significant effects on the process mechanics and dynamics which have been studied very little up to now. In this paper, first of all, effects of tool tip contact on the surface finish quality is presented, and conditions to avoid tip contact in terms of lead and tilt angles and depth of cut are stated. The effects of lead and tilt angles on cutting forces, torque, form errors and stability are investigated through, modelling and verified by experimental results. It is shown that the cutting geometry, mechanics and dynamics vary drastically and nonlinearly with these angles. For the same material removal rate, forces and stability limits can be quite different for various combinations of lead and tilt angles. The results presented in the paper are expected to help understanding of complex 5-axis milling process mechanics and dynamics in a better way. The results should also help selection of 5-axis milling conditions for higher productivity and machined part quality