On the geometric and stress modeling of taper ball end mills

Taper ball end mills (TBEM) are widely used in 5-axis machining of complex parts such as impellers. Structural models are needed for calculating cutter load capacity and deflection and optimizing tool designs. Developing analytical structural models is difficult due to the geometric complexity. This paper establishes a novel 3D parametric model for as-ground TBEMs. Using this parameterized geometric model, the structure is analyzed to calculate bending stress and cutter deflection. The analytical model results were found to be in good agreement with Finite Element simulation results and experimental data from the literature.