The machining of complex sculptured surfaces is a global technological topic, in modern manufacturing with relevance in both industrialized and emerging in countries, particularly within the moulds and dies sector whose applications include highly technological industries such as the automotive and aircraft industry. Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces considers new approaches to the manufacture of moulds and dies within these industries. The traditional technology employed in the manufacture of moulds and dies combined conventional milling and electro-discharge machining (EDM) but this has been replaced with high-speed milling (HSM) which has been applied in roughing, semi-finishing and finishing of moulds and dies with great success. Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces provides recent information on machining of complex sculptured surfaces including modern CAM systems and process planning for three and five axis machining as well as explanations of the advantages of HSM over traditional methods ranging from work piece precision and roughness to manual polishing following machining operations. Whilst primarily intended for engineering students and post graduates (particularly in the fields of mechanical, manufacturing or materials), Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces provides clear instructions on modern manufacturing; serving as a practical resource for all academics, researchers, engineers and industry professionals with interest in the machining of complex sculptured surfaces.

The machining of complex sculptured surfaces is a global technological topic, in modern manufacturing with relevance in both industrialized and emerging in countries, particularly within the moulds and dies sector whose applications include highly technological industries such as the automotive and aircraft industry. Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces considers new approaches to the manufacture of moulds and dies within these industries. The traditional technology employed in the manufacture of moulds and dies combined conventional milling and electro-discharge machining (EDM) but this has been replaced with high-speed milling (HSM) which has been applied in roughing, semi-finishing and finishing of moulds and dies with great success. Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces provides recent information on machining of complex sculptured surfaces including modern CAM systems and process planning for three and five axis machining as well as explanations of the advantages of HSM over traditional methods ranging from work piece precision and roughness to manual polishing following machining operations. Whilst primarily intended for engineering students and post graduates (particularly in the fields of mechanical, manufacturing or materials), Machining of Complex Sculptured Surfaces provides clear instructions on modern manufacturing; serving as a practical resource for all academics, researchers, engineers and industry professionals with interest in the machining of complex sculptured surfaces.

This essential book documents the latest research progress and key issues affecting SSM software development. With a particular focus on the CAD/CAM environment, it provides a rich source of reference and covers a wide range of topics.

"Many products are designed with aesthetic sculptured surfaces to enhance their appearance, an important factor in customer satisfaction, especially for automotive and consumer electronics prod-ucts. In other cases, products have sculptured surfaces to meet functional requirements. Functional surfaces interact with the environment or with other surfaces. Because of this, functional surfaces can also be called dynamic surfaces. Functional surfaces do not possess the property to slide over itself, which causes significant complexity in machining of sculptured surfaces. The application of multiaxis numerically controlled (NC) machines is the only way for an efficient machining of sculp-tured surfaces. Reduction of machining time is a critical issue when machining sculptured surfaces on multiaxis NC machines. To reduce the machining cost of a sculptured surface, the machining time must be as short as possible."--BOOK JACKET.

Many products are designed with aesthetic sculptured surfaces to enhance their appearance, an important factor in customer satisfaction, especially for automotive and consumer electronics products. In other cases, products have sculptured surfaces to meet functional requirements. Functional surfaces interact with the environment or with other surfaces. Because of this, functional surfaces can also be called dynamic surfaces. Functional surfaces do not possess the property to slide over itself, which causes significant complexity in machining of sculptured surfaces. The application of multiaxis numerically controlled (NC) machines is the only way for an efficient machining of sculptured surfaces. Reduction of machining time is a critical issue when machining sculptured surfaces on multiaxis NC machines. To reduce the machining cost of a sculptured surface, the machining time must be as short as possible. Table of Contents: Introduction / Analytical Representation of Scupltured Surfaces / Kinematics of Sculptured-Surface Machining / Analytical Description of the Geometry of Contact of the Sculptured Surface and of the Generating Surface of the Form-Cutting Tool / Form-Cutting Tools of Optimal Design / Conditions of Proper Sculptured-Surface Generation / Predicted Accuracy of the Machined Sculptured Surface / Optimal Sculptured-Surface Machining

On November 9-11, 1998,85 participants, representing 17 countries, gathered in Aubum Hills, Michigan, at the Chrysler Tech Center, to attend a workshop "SSM'98" (or Sculptured Surface Machining '98) organized by IFIP Working Group 5.3. This was the first major workshop on sculptured surface machining since the CAM-I sponsored conference "Machining Impossible Surfaces" held in 1981. The purpose of the SSM'98 workshop, entitled "Machining Impossible Shapes", was to promote a cross-fertilization of ideas among three communities: industrial users, CAM software developers and academic researchers. There were 17 participants who were "industrial users", 15 represented CAM software developers, 4 were from the machine tool industry, with the remainder being academic researchers. The format of the meeting included 40 presentations in 9 sessions, 4 keynote speeches and a sufficient amount of time for informal discussion amongst the participants. One of the most valuable aspects of the workshop was the opportunity for participants to meet informally and to discuss their mutual interests. This led to two "participant organized" sessions on five axis machining and on machine tool controllers.