Replacing Broaching with Milling

Trochoidal milling is a toolpath technique generally applied to increase tool life or material removal rate in hard metals. Manufacturing solutions provider Iruba also relies on this approach to make a shaped milling tool effective. The company has patented a process that applies trochoidal milling strategies with a special milling tool in order to create fir-tree profiles in turbine discs—profiles that usually require broaching. The trochoidal paths in this application are generated using PowerMill software from Delcam. The software company says this type of tool path is important for the application not only because the resulting metal removal rate is comparable to broaching, but also because the consistent cutting forces ensure tight accuracy. Delcam is working with Iruba as well as machining center maker Hermle to further develop and advance the use of this fir-tree machining method.