Sensor Monitoring Based Optimisation during Turning of Titanium Alloys

This paper focuses on the development and application of sensor monitoring of machining processes carried out on difficult-to-machine materials with the aim of process optimisation. In particular, a turning process of a Ti base alloy is considered. The research activities have been carried out by two Laboratories: Machining Technology Laboratory at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU), Chemnitz, Germany, and Laboratory for Advanced Production Technology (LAPT) at the Dept. of Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Italy. The joint research work included: (a) detection and conditioning of acceleration sensor signals during turning of Ti alloys with variable machining parameters yielding diverse process conditions, and (b) machining process optimisation based on advanced signal processing, feature extraction, and pattern recognition, with the scope to classify Acceptable / Not Acceptable process conditions.