Multi-flute ball endmill for airfoil machining
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsIoan Sasu, Bertrand Turcotte
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A milling cutter comprises a shank section joined to a cutting section. The cutting section includes a plurality of peripheral teeth separated by a plurality of flutes to form cutting edges extending around the cutting section in a helix direction. The number of respective teeth and flutes is more than 12.
Claims8
A milling cutter adapted to rotate about a longitudinal axis thereof during a milling operation, the milling cutter comprising a shank section joined to a cutting section, the cutting section being substantially tapered, having a varying transverse cross section diminishing from the shank section to an end of the cutting section, the cutting section including a hard metal body with a plurality of peripheral cutting teeth substantially equally spaced by a plurality of radially concavely curved flutes, the peripheral teeth and flutes extending in a helical direction around the cutting section, each of the peripheral cutting teeth having a rake face, a cutting edge, a land and a clearing face, the rake face extending from the cutting edge toward, and being smoothly connected with, a concavely curved bottom of an adjacent flute, each cutting edge being defined on a circular periphery of the hard metal body, the number of flutes being greater than 14.
A milling cutter for machining an Integrally Bladed Rotor (IBR) having a rotor disc with a plurality of integral airfoils projecting outwardly from the rotor disc, the milling cutter being adapted to rotate about a longitudinal axis thereof during a milling operation and comprising a shank section joined to a cutting section having a transverse cross-section smaller than a circumferential space defined between adjacent airfoils, the cutting section including a hard metal body with a plurality of peripheral cutting teeth substantially equally spaced by a plurality of radially concavely curved flutes, the peripheral cutting teeth and flutes extending in a helical direction around the cutting section, each of the peripheral cutting teeth having a rake face, a cutting edge and a clearing face, the rake face extending from the cutting edge toward, and being smoothly connected with a concavely curved bottom of an adjacent flute, each cutting edge being defined on a circular periphery of the hard metal body, the number of flutes being between 15 and 60, wherein the cutting section comprises a ball end thereof, and wherein the transverse cross-section of the cutting section varies, diminishing from the shank section to the ball end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.