Design and analysis of a self-sensing smart cutting tool integrated piezoelectric films for cutting force monitoring in ultra-precision machining

In this paper, a novel self-sensing smart tool was proposed and designed for monitoring cutting force in ultra-precision machining, which integrate the sensors using piezoelectric films. The special designed insert tool has been presented, which has two small and special stress cavity structures so as to improve the measure sensitivity. The FE-model of smart tool was established and structural mechanics and piezoelectric coupling analysis were implemented considering mechanical load condition using simulation software Ansys. The results illustrate that the relationship between different cutting force and electrical signals is a linear proportional and can be used reliably to monitoring the cutting force. In particular, the self-sensing smart tool is able to measure the small loads and low force variations. Future works will mainly focus on optimization of smart tool size to obtain better sensitivity, analysis of heat effect for better stability.