The changing times are often accompanied by the transformation and upgrading of various industries. With the in-depth implementation of China's "Made in China 2025" initiative, aerospace vehicles, automobiles, and rail vehicles are developing towards high speed, energy saving, and safety, resulting in many key components exhibiting complex polyhedral and high-order curved surface shapes. Previously, CNC machine tools using three linear axes could no longer achieve ideal machining accuracy and surface quality, leading to a surge in demand for five-axis machining technology across various industries.
A five-axis machining center uses spindle rotation to complete cutting operations, enabling the workpiece to meet various application requirements in terms of shape accuracy, positional accuracy, and surface finish. It's an advanced machining method that goes beyond simply combining turning and milling on a single machine tool. Instead, it utilizes the spindle motion to manufacture various molds, sheet metal, and furniture. This represents a new cutting practice and technique that has emerged with the significant advancements in CNC technology.
Five-axis linkage machining center technology refers to the machining technology that requires five independent axes to perform CNC interpolation motions together to obtain a smooth surface on a complex-shaped surface. Although theoretically any complex surface can be described using X, Y, and Z coordinates, the actual machining tool is not a point, but a solid with a certain size. In order to avoid interference between the tool and the machined surface when machining spatially twisted surfaces and to ensure the consistency of cutting conditions at various points on the surface, it is necessary to adjust the angle between the tool axis and the surface normal in two dimensions.
The number of axes in a five-axis machining center refers to the number of axes that need to move independently when machining the same surface, not the number of controllable axes the CNC machine has. For example, to ensure the parallelism of the beam's lifting and lowering on a gantry milling machine, two drive axes, W1 and W2, need to move synchronously. That is, W1 is the drive axis, and W2 is synchronized with it. Therefore, they can only function as one independent motion axis. Additionally, if a complex sculpture surface has rotational features, Y-axis movement is not required and can be achieved on a CNC lathe or turning center.
Lichi LU-620 five-axis machining center is processing a metal helmet.
Five-axis machining centers have a wide range of applications, capable of machining parts that are impossible or difficult to machine using conventional three-axis machining centers. Furthermore, they are used in a broad range of industries, primarily including aerospace, military, scientific research, high-precision medical equipment, and high-precision molds—sectors of national importance. This demonstrates the significant influence of five-axis machining centers on these sectors. Five-axis machining centers can process various complex curved or irregularly shaped parts, such as turbine engine blades, aircraft engine propellers, and marine propellers. Customers who purchase five-axis machining centers typically require the machining of complex shapes and would not use them for simple planar or curved parts. Using a five-axis machining center for planar parts would be a waste of its capabilities.
Compared with conventional machining centers, five-axis machining centers have the following significant characteristics:
1. Suitable for machining complex, irregularly shaped parts.
Five-axis machining centers can process complex parts that are difficult or impossible for ordinary machining centers to process, and are therefore widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding, mold making and other processing industries.
2. High machining precision
Five-axis machining centers can perform complete inspections of material dimensions through five-axis positioning and machining, so the accuracy of five-axis vertical machining centers is higher than that of ordinary machining centers.
3. Stable and reliable processing
It achieves computer control, eliminates human error, ensures good consistency in parts processing, and guarantees stable and reliable quality.
4. High flexibility
When the object being processed changes, generally only the CNC sequence needs to be modified, demonstrating excellent adaptability and saving considerable production preparation time. Based on the five-axis machining center, a more flexible automated manufacturing system can be formed.
5. High productivity
Five-axis machining centers have high machining precision and high machine bed rigidity. They automatically select the most advantageous machining parameters and have high productivity, generally 3 to 5 times that of ordinary machining centers. They can handle the machining of some complex parts and can improve production efficiency by more than ten or even dozens of times.
6. Good production conditions
The machine tools have a high level of automation, which greatly reduces the workload of operators and provides a better working environment.
7. Facilitates management
The adoption of five-axis machining centers facilitates the development of computer-controlled and managed production, creating conditions for the automation of the production process.
Five-axis machining centers have attracted worldwide attention for their outstanding flexible automation, excellent and stable precision, and flexible and diverse functions, becoming a core technology in advanced manufacturing. Furthermore, continuous research and the in-depth application of information technology have rapidly advanced five-axis machining centers. As a crucial basic piece of equipment in the machine tool manufacturing industry, the development of five-axis machining centers has always been a focus of attention.
