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Materials

& Design
Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Design, development and testing of a turning


dynamometer for cutting force measurement
nsacar
Suleyman Yaldz *, Faruk U
Mechanical Department, Technical Science College, Selcuk University, 42031 Konya, Turkey

Received 19 November 2004; accepted 4 April 2005


Available online 9 June 2005

Abstract

In this study, a turning dynamometer that can measure static and dynamic cutting forces by using strain gauge and piezo-electric
accelerometer, respectively, has been designed and developed. The orientation of octagonal rings and strain gauge locations has been
determined to maximize sensitivity and to minimize cross-sensitivity. The developed dynamometer is connected to a data acquisition
system. Cutting force signals were captured and transformed into numerical form and processed using a data acquisition system
consisting of necessary hardware and software running on MS-Windows based personal computer. The obtained results of machin-
ing tests performed at dierent cutting parameters showed that the dynamometer could be used reliably to measure cutting forces.
Although the dynamometer was developed primarily for turning operations, it can be used to measure cutting forces during nearly
all machining operations (milling, drilling, etc.).
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: C-dynamometer; G-strain gauge; G-data acquisition; Engineering design

1. Introduction on the generation of heat, and thus tool wear, quality


of machined surface and accuracy of the workpiece.
The importance of monitoring the cutting force in Due to the complex tool congurations/cutting condi-
turning has been well recognized in machine tool tions of metal cutting operations and some unknown
communities. In particular, Sukvittayawong and Inasaki factors and stresses, theoretical cutting force calcula-
[1], Tlusty and Andrews [2], and Weck [3] pointed out tions failed to produce accurate results. Therefore,
that on-line and real-time information of the normal experimental measurement of the cutting forces became
cutting force is closely related to the tool wear predic- unavoidable. For this purpose, many dynamometers
tion, breakage detection or other malfunction have been developed [4]. In these dynamometers, cutting
inspections. force measurement is mainly based on elastic deforma-
A considerable amount of investigations has been di- tion of the materials.
rected towards the prediction and measurement of cut- Various studies concerning dynamometer design and
ting forces. That is because the cutting forces construction can be found in [5,6]. Force components in
generated during metal cutting have a direct inuence turning are often measured using either an octagonal-ring
dynamometer type or a tool shank type. The tool-shank
*
type is always characterized by its inaccuracy and insen-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 332 223 2347; fax: +90 332 241
0185.
sitivity in measuring either one or two components [7].
E-mail addresses: syaldiz@selcuk.edu.tr, suleymanyaldiz@hotmail. This study outlines a strain gauge based octagonal-ring
com (S. Yaldz). type analogue dynamometer design and prototyping.

0261-3069/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2005.04.001
840 nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U

This dynamometer is capable of measuring three-force


components. As the reading of analogue values manually
is a dicult and tedious job, a computer connection for
data acquisition has been realized. Ff

Ft
2. Materials and methods
Fc
2.1. Dynamometer
F
A three-force component analogue dynamometer
capable of measuring cutting forces during turning
was designed, developed and tested. A computer con-
nection for data acquisition was also made and Fig. 2. Cutting force components which occurs during metal cutting in
turning.
calibrated. The analogue data can be evaluated numer-
ically on a computer and when required can be con-
verted back to analogue. The schematic representation 3. Design and construction of a strain gauge based
of the cutting force measurement system is shown in dynamometer for lathe
Fig. 1.
The dynamometer is capable of measuring feed force 3.1. Design criterions and material of dynamometer
(Ff), thrust force (Ft) and main cutting force (Fc) which
occurs during turning operations as seen in Fig. 2. Sensitivity, rigidity, elasticity, accuracy, easy calibra-
This dynamometer consist of four elastic octagonal tion, cost and reliability in the harsh cutting environ-
rings on which strain gauges were mounted and neces- ment have been taken into account in designing the
sary connection were made to form measuring the dynamometer. Dimensions, shape and material of dyna-
Wheatstone bridges. mometer are considered to be eective factors on dy-
namic properties of the dynamometer.
2.2. Data acquisition A dynamometer essentially consists of an important
ring element. The rigidity, high natural frequency, cor-
On-line and real-time information of the cutting force rosion resistance and high heat conductivity factors
data are automatically read and stored by a system dur- were taken into consideration while selecting the ring
ing metal cutting. Since the output from Wheatstone materials. Also, deformation under the load should con-
bridge circuits is very low due to the high stiness form to that of strain gauges [2].
requirement of the dynamometer, the analogue signals In this study, AISI 4140 steel, which meets above
coming from dynamometer amplied by strain gauge in- requirements, was selected as the ring material. The
put modules (Advantech ADAM 3016) are then con- properties of this material are given in Table 1.
verted to digital signals and captured by PCL-818H
data acquisition card installed in MS-Windows based 3.2. Determination of dimensions of the octagonal rings
PC. The stored data can be retrieved and used for anal-
ysis when required. The data acquisition software is The thickness t, radius r, and width of the circular
capable of averaging and graphical simulation of force strain ring b are the three basic controllable parameters
signals in process. that aect the rigidity and sensitivity. Since there is no

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of experimental set-up.


nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U 841

Table 1 respectively. Thus, the rate of t/r (4/16 = 0.25) provides


Properties of AISI 4140 steel corresponding sensitivity to stiness ratio e/(d/r) for
Yield strength Modulus of Poisson Hardness octagonal ring.
(N/mm2) elasticity (N/mm2) ratio
550900 210,000 0.3 217 HB 3.3. Verifying the dimensions of octagonal rings

The maximum expected force, which the rings may


Ft face in each direction, is assumed as 3500 N. If the
Fc
B Ft cross-sectional dimensions of a curved bar is smaller
M Fc
39.6
A than the radius of the centre line, it is considered to be
r thin ring [10]. Taking into account dimensions as seen
A A A A in Fig. 4. (b = 20 mm; r = 16 mm; t = 4 mm), elastic
t
A strains et and ec due to forces Ft and Fc are calculated
B according to ring theory by using the following equa-
(a) (b) (c) tions [7,8]:
Fig. 3. The deformation of circular strain ring under: (a) combined, 1.09F t r
et  9.1  104 ; 2
(b) thrust Ft, (c) main cutting Fc forces. Ebt2
2.18F c r
ec  1.82  103 . 3
eect of ring width b and modulus of elasticity (E) on Ebt2
the strain per unit deection, bmin can be taken as The stress occurring on rings caused by thrust and main
20 mm to set up the rings securely [8]. cutting forces can be calculated by placing elastic strain
The deformation of circular ring under the eect of ratio values in Eq. (4) and (5) as follows:
thrust force Ft and main cutting force Fc separately is rt Eet 190.8 N=mm2 ; 4
shown in Fig. 3(b) and (c), respectively. As long as strain 2
on A and B where the strain gauges are going to be xed rc Eec 381.5 N=mm . 5
(Fig. 3(a)) are within the elastic limits of the ring mate- As AISI 4140 steel was used for manufacturing the ring
rial, the strain and deection due to the main cutting and its yield strength is 550900 N/mm2, the calculated
force should be considered for the purpose of the ring stress values (rt and rc) occurring on the rings are within
design for maximization of sensitivity (ec/Fc) and sti- safety limits for this material.
ness (Fc/dc).
The strain gauges should be placed where the stress 3.4. Dynamic properties of dynamometer
concentration has maximum value. The experiments
have shown that good results are obtained for octagonal Vibration frequency of the machine tool, to which the
rings when the inclined gauges are at points 45 from the dynamometer is mounted for cutting force measure-
vertical instead of 39.6 required by the circular ring the- ment, should conform to the natural frequency of the
ory. The strain per unit deection can be expressed as [8] dynamometer. A dynamometers natural frequency
et 1.09t t should be as high as possible. Vibration frequency of
0.61 ; 1 the machine tool is related to the spindle speed of the
dt =r 1.8r r
machine tool. The dynamometer should have natural
where dt is the deection in a radial direction and et is frequency of at least four times the vibration frequency
the strain due to thrust force Ft. It is clear that for max- of the machine tool [8].
imum sensitivity and rigidity et/dt should be as large as
possible. This requires that r should be as small as pos-
sible and t as large as possible. But small r brings some
diculties in mounting the internal strain gauges accu-
rately. Therefore, for a given size of r and b, t should
t

be large enough to be consistent with the desired sensi-


tivity. Ito et al. [9] performed a nite element analysis
r

for the elastic behaviour of octagonal rings. They ex-


pressed that the octagonal ring is substantially stier
than the circular ring when t/r equals 0.05 or less, the
dierence in displacement of circular ring and octagonal
ring is less than 10% if t/r equals 0.25 or greater. In b
order to be consistent with this expression, the ring
thickness and ring radius were taken as 4 and 16 mm, Fig. 4. Octagonal dynamometer ring dimensions.
842 nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U

The dynamometer is considered to be a small mass The thrust force Ft are supported by A, B, C and D
supported by ring elements for analytical purpose. In or- rings of the dynamometer as shown in Fig. 5. The strain
der to determine the natural frequency of the dynamom- gauges 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15 and 16 are aected by the
eter, the ring constant of dynamometer should be thrust force Ft. Among these strain gauges, 3, 7, 11
determined rst. The stiness value for a thin circular and 15 are subject to tensile stress while 4, 8, 12 and
ring is given as in the following equation [8]: 16 are subject to compressive stress.
The feed force Ff is supported by A and C rings of the
Ft Ebt3 dynamometer as shown in Fig. 5. The strain gauges to
Kt . 6
dt 1.8r3 measure the feed force Ff should be mounted on the out-
As placing the related values in Eq. (6), the ring constant er surfaces of A and C rings with 45 inclination angle.
of the dynamometer is computed as; Kt = 36,458 N/mm. As shown in Fig. 5, the strain gauges 1, 2, 5 and 6 are
The natural frequency of dynamometer, which is as- aected by the feed force Ff. Among these strain gauges,
sumed to be a small mass supported by ring elements, 1 and 5 are subject to tensile stress while 2 and 6 are sub-
can be obtained from the following relation [8]: ject to compressive stress.
The main cutting force Fc is supported by B and D
1 p rings as seen in Fig. 5. The strain gauges for measuring
fd K=m; 7
2p the main cutting force Fc are mounted on rings B and D
where K is the dynamometer ring constant (N/mm), m with 45 inclination angle with respect to the vertical
the dynamometer mass (kg), fd the dynamometer natu- plane. As shown in Fig. 5, the strain gauges 9, 10, 13
ral frequency (rev/s). and 14 are aected by the main cutting force Fc.
The ring mass is 36.43 kg. As placing the related val-
ues in Eq. (7), the natural frequency of dynamometer is 3.6. Setting the Wheatstone bridges used in the
computed as fd = 159.2 rev/s. To full the requirement dynamometer
as stated above fd > 4fm, the maximum spindle speed
of the lathe should be 200 rev/s or 12,000 rpm. One full eight active arms bridge arrangement can be
arranged for thrust force measurement and two full four
3.5. The orientation of the strain gauges and the rings on active arms bridge can be arranged for feed force and
the dynamometer main cutting force. Thus, if four active arms are used
in one bridge, the bridge output becomes four times
The proper selection of the points where the strain greater than the single arm bridge. Also, full bridge cir-
gauges are mounted is essential for achieving high accu- cuit is fully compensated for any change in resistance
racy in the Wheatstone bridge circuits. The orientation due to the temperature.
of the strain gauges on the rings and the position of The strain gauges used have 5% elongation limit on a
the rings on the dynamometer are given in Fig. 5. 6 mm. length. So the maximum allowed elongation

Ft Section L- L Section W-W

12 5 6 9 10 13 14
3 4 8 7 11 12
A C B D 16 15

W Strain guages

C
B Y

Ff
L
X
A Fc D

L
W

Fig. 5. The strain gauges and ring orientation on the dynamometer.


nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U 843

should be less than 6 5% = 0.3 mm. The possible elon- relation is obtained. Or, this relation can be rearranged
gation could occur by 3500 N maximum permissible as
force (F) on a dynamometer and it has 36,458 N/mm
UA 4UE  106 . 17
rigidity (K) can be calculated as follows:
The principles applied to the thrust force Ft are also va-
K t F t =dt ;
8 lid for the feed force Ff. By using the principles of thrust
dt F t =K t 0.096 mm. force Ft, the feed force Ff equation can be formed.
Thus, the obtained possible elongation value 0.096 mm Again, from Eq. (12)
is lower than 0.3 mm allowable elongation limits. UA 2eUE
The strain occurring in the strain gauges can be stated
or can also be written as
by the following relation [7,11]:
DR DL UA 2UE  106 . 18
k ; 9
R L0 Similarly, the principles applied for feed force Ff and
where DR is the dierential resistance due to the voltage thrust force Ft are also valid for the main cutting force
(X), R the resistance of the strain gauge prior to applica- Fc. See Fig. 6.
tion to voltage (X), K the gauge factor (ratio) of strain
gauge, DL the elongation due to the stress (mm), and 3.7. Dynamometer construction
L0 the initial length (mm).
Elongation percent of the strain gauge is stated by 3.7.1. Mounting of strain gauges on the rings
DL/L0 = e. Therefore, the above formula can be rewrit- The rings of dynamometer were manufactured at
ten as DR/R = ke. The bridge unbalance V is the ratio of CNC machine tools by using AISI 4140 steel as seen
output voltage UA to input voltage UE of the bridge in Fig. 7. The surfaces of the rings were ground for bet-
circuit is given by the following relation [1114]: ter strain gauge application.
  Prior to the mounting of the strain gauges, the ring
UA 1 DR1 DR2 DR3 DR4 surfaces on which strain gauges were mounted had been
V   . 10
UE 4 R1 R2 R3 R4 ground and then these surfaces were cleaned by cleaning
If R1 = R2 and R3 = R4 the bridge is balanced or, in the set HBM: FC1. Around 30 min after the cleaning of
other words, the bridge unbalance is zero. Substituting
DR/R =keV is found as
UA 1
V ke1  e2 e3  e4 ; 11
UE 4
where as e1 = e2 = e3 = e4 = e/UA/UE = (1/4)(k
4e) and strain gauge ratio factor is taken k = 2, the output
voltage can be reduced to the following denition:
UA 2eUE. 12
If the Eq. (12) giving the output voltage of Wheatstone
bridge circuit is applied to thrust force Ft, bridge
Fig. 6. Wheatstone bridge connections (a) for Ff, (b) for Ft and (c) for
circuit Fc.
   
UA 1 DR3 DR11 DR4 DR12
k 
UE 4 R3 R11 R4 R12
    A M6
DR7 DR15 DR8 DR16
 13
R7 R15 R8 R16
is obtained.
As
32

40

UA 1
ke3 e11  e4 e12
UE 4 5 10
e7 e15  e8 e16 ; 14
e3 e11 e4 e12 e7 e15 e8 e16 e 15 3
A
for UA/UE = (1/4)(k 8e) and k = 2 Section A-A
UA 4eUE 16 Fig. 7. Manufactured octagonal dynamometer rings.
844 nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U

the surfaces, the strain gauges were mounted using cold plates were covered with 5 mm thick transparent plastic
curing rapid adhesive HBM: Z70 and were left for material in order to prevent the strain gauges from hot
drying for 10 min. After curing time, the surfaces of chips and from cutting uid during turning.
the strain gauges were covered by nitrile rubber HBM: The dynamometer was xed on to the saddle of lathe
NG150 to protect against the inuence of cutting uid. in a position where the nose of the cutter tips was on the
Totally 16, strain gauges were mounted on four same line with chuck centre.
octagonal rings. Two strain gauges were mounted hori-
zontally on to outsides of each ring at 45 angles. Two 3.8. Dynamometer calibration
more strain gauges, one inside and the other outside
were also mounted vertically. See Fig. 5. 3.8.1. Static calibration of the dynamometer
HBM: LY11 6/120 type strain gauges recommended In order to determine the elastic deection of ring
for steel specimens and for static or dynamic loading components and consequently the output voltage under
were utilised. To achieve low energy dissipation and static load, the dynamometer was calibrated. The cali-
hence a stable zero setting for a long time, excitation bration was made in three directions for Ff, Ft, Fc and
voltage must be selected carefully. The range of excita- the output voltages of millivolt were averaged for each
tion voltage for a thick steel mounting surface may be direction. The loads up to 2000 N 50 N intervals were
obtained from the relation [15] applied and the strain values were recorded for each
q load intervals. Thus, calibration curves were obtained
V in 2 RP 0g Ag to convert the output readings into cutting force values.
Figs. 911 show the calibration curves for feed force,
in which R is the gauge resistance in ohms, P 0g is the
thrust force and main cutting force, respectively. In or-
power density in the gauge grid (between 2 and 5 kW/
der to verify the consistency, the measurements were re-
m2), and Ag is the active grid area (6 2.8 for HBM
peated three times and very close values were obtained
for LY11 6/120). For convenience, an excitation voltage
as seen in Figs. 911. The eect of loading in one direc-
of 10 V (calculated between 8 and 12.7 V) was
tion on the other force components was also examined
employed.
and minor uctuations were observed. These eects were
3.7.2. Mounting of the dynamometer
The rings of dynamometer were mounted between
two plates by using (B4 mm) pins and M5 screws. Pins
were used in order to prevent the motion of plates due to
clearance, which may cause the cross-sensitivity during
measurements. The dimensions of plates were
100 100 12 mm. The cutter was placed tightly into
the hole of the front plate and tightened with M8 screws
to upper plate in order to sustain the perpendicularity to
the ring plane (see Fig. 8). The sides of front and rear

Fig. 9. Calibration curve and cross-sensitivity for feed force Ff.

Fig. 8. Designed and developed dynamometer. Fig. 10. Calibration curve and cross-sensitivity for thrust force Ft.
nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U 845

oscilloscope. So, the developed dynamometer, the dy-


namic cutting force within the time domain and fre-
quency domain were recorded while the machine was
running as idle and during the cutting operation as
shown in Fig. 12.

3.9. The dynamometer testing

3.9.1. Cross-sensitivity test


The cross-sensitivity can be expressed as the strain
measured on axes which is normal to the main axes. It
is desired that dynamometers must not be completely
Fig. 11. Calibration curve and cross-sensitivity for main cutting force
Fc. insensitive to the cross-strain. It is possible to measure
the cutting forces independently and accurately as long
as the cross-sensitivity is small. The strain errors will
small enough to be ignored. The dynamometer was run be less if this eect is within an acceptable range. These
idle for 5 min before each calibration tests as it was errors can arise because the strain gauges are not tted
ready for measurement in order to determine the symmetrically to the ring axes and if the strain rings
consistency. are not mounted in the direction of measured force axes.
When the dynamometer tested X-direction, the cross-
3.8.2. Dynamic calibration of the dynamometer sensitivity for Y- and Z-direction was calculated as
The natural frequency of the dynamometer deter- 0.18% and 0.7%. While the tests were being carried
mines its general dynamic stiness. In order that the re- out on Y- and Z-direction, the cross-sensitivity was cal-
corded force is not inuenced by the dynamic response culated as 0.33% and 0.5%, and 0.92% and 0.17%,
of the dynamometer, its natural frequency must be high- respectively, as shown in Table 2(a).
er than the frequency of exciting vibration [16]. The nat-
ural frequency of the dynamometer is determined 3.9.2. Eccentricity test
accurately by setting the dynamometer into vibration In a three-component dynamometer, the applied load
and by measuring its response using accelerometer and within the square outlined by axes of rings must always

Fig. 12. Dynamic cutting force within the time domain and frequency domain.
846 nsacar / Materials and Design 27 (2006) 839846
S. Yaldz, F. U

Table 2
The results of tests performed on the dynamometer
Axes Load (N) Output e (digital) Average error (%)
X Y Z X Y Z
The results of cross-sensitivity test
Ff 2000 278 5 2 0.18 0.7
Ft 2000 8 239 1.3 0.33 0.5
Fc 2000 16 3 173 0.92 0.17

Axes Load (N) e = 0 mm (mV) e = 50 mm (mV) Output error (%)


The results of eccentricity test
Ff 1000 119 118 0.8
Ft 1000 122 120 0.16
Fc 1000 82 81 0.12

give same output value. To test this condition, the dyna- References
mometer was subject to eccentricity test. In order to test
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