Wear distribution characteristics of carbide ball end milling tool focusing on tool path and posture

Tool wear has an important impact on the machining process. During machining, except for the wear accumulation in time, the tool path and posture directly influence the wear spatial distribution characters. In this study, the influence of tool path and posture on tool wear distribution is introduced by describing the shape and posture of the undeformed cutting unit under different tool path and posture. Three dimensional wear matrix ergodic method is proposed to describe the spatial distribution characteristics of tool wear under arbitrary tool path, posture and machined surface. Then, the wear spatial distribution model of ball end milling tool is built based on work theory and verified by ruled surface milling of semi-open impeller. Finally, related simulation and discussion are made based on the model. •The spatial distribution law of tool wear under the comprehensive influence of tool path and machined surface is revealed.•The arbitrary representation of tool path and machined surface is proposed.•The discrete representation method of tool wear and its traversal method based on machining path are proposed and applied.•The characteristics of tool wear in typical tool paths are verified and discussed.