Digital surface twin for ultra-precision high performance cutting

Increasing productivity of ultra-precision (UP) machining is vital to apply this technology in a broader range of applications. In order to achieve this goal, technologies such as diamond cutting with multiple cutting edges or the application of electromagnetic levitation guides are researched. Due to the additional, influencing factors from these technologies, a digital surface twin is beneficial for predicting surface features and characteristics. In this work, two approaches for generating a digital surface twin are investigated: a surface simulation based on numerical height maps and a dexel-based material removal simulation. Both incorporate multi degree of freedom position data provided by the levitation guide. Fly-cutting experiments are conducted to validate the digital twin approaches. Both approaches are able to predict surface profile, surface roughness and waviness with high accuracy. It is also shown, that the digital twin can support the development of compensation approaches for tool offsets. In conclusion digital surface twins for ultra-precision cutting offer a high potential to support productivity improvement especially in combination with axis position data. Further work will focus on real-time integration of the approaches.