Study on high efficiency milling of steam turbine blade

In response to global environmental issues, higher efficiency and improved operational reliability are increasingly being requested for steam turbines, essential equipment for thermal power generation. Its material is stainless steel, which is difficult to cut because of high work-hardening trend and high resistance to heat. As its complex shape and high accuracy requirement, conventional methods such as using a ball end mill have obstacles of achieve a high accuracy coexist with high efficiency. The main objectives of this study are to propose a new method called Linear Interpolation Milling(LIM) using a taper end mill and verify its validity both in theory and practice.