Influence of the machining sequence on the residual stress redistribution and machining quality: analysis and improvement using numerical simulations

The manufacturing of aluminium alloy structural aerospace parts involves multiple steps, the principal ones being the forming (rolling, forging etc.), the heat treatments and the machining. During this last step, the final geometry of the part is obtained. Before machining, the workpiece has therefore undergone several manufacturing steps resulting in unequal plastic deformation and metallurgical changes which are both sources of residual stresses. On large and complex aluminium alloy aeronautical parts, up to 90 % of the initial workpiece volume can be removed by machining. During machining, the mechanical equilibrium of the part is in constant evolution due to the redistribution of the initial residual stresses.The residual stress redistribution is the main cause of workpiece deflections during machining as well as of post-machining distortion (after unclamping). Both can lead to the non-conformity of the part with the geometrical and dimensional tolerance specifications and therefore to a rejection of the part or to additional conforming steps. In order to improve the machining accuracy and the robustness of the process, the effect of the residual stresses has to be considered for the definition of the machining process plan. In this paper, a specific numerical tool [2] allowing to predict workpiece deflections during machining and post-machining distortion is used to study the influence of the machining sequence on the machining quality in taking into consideration the initial residual stresses. A first machining process plan defined as the reference case is simulated. Simulation results are then compared with experimental ones showing the feasibility to use the developed tool to predict the machining quality depending on the initial residual stresses, the fixture layout and the machining sequence. Using the computational tool, a method to optimise the machining quality depending on the initial workpiece and on the machining sequence is presented. A machining process plan allowing to respect the tolerance specifications is then defined. This demonstrates the feasibility to adapt and to optimise the machining process plan to ensure conformity of the part with the tolerance specifications.