Material Removal Model and Contact Control of Robotic Gasbag Polishing Technique

Material removal model of robotic gasbag polishing is established on the basis of Preston equation and distributions of linear velocity and contact stress in the circular contact area between the flexible polishing tool and mould surface. Contact force determines the maximal contact stress and influences the material removal and surface quality. Linear velocity and contact stress fields together with the distribution of material removal are calculated and simulated respectively according to certain internal pressure, downward depth, inclining angle, rotating speed and structural characteristics of rubber gasbag. The material removal mechanism is analyzed for optimizing the polishing process and trajectory planning is proposed for more convenient operation. The theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the surface roughness Ra 5 nm can be obtained under the situations of effective cushioning action of flexible contact, reliable control accuracy of robotic gasbag polishing system, tiny wiped off process of mould surface, etc.