EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS ON DEFORMATION OF 6061-T6 ALUMINIUM BRACKET USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Keywords:
Aluminum Alloy, Fixture, Ansys, Finite element analysis , OptimizationAbstract
Machining fixtures are used to locate and constrain a work piece during a machining operation. To ensure that the work piece is manufactured according to specified dimensions and tolerances, it must be appropriately located and clamped.Minimising work piece and fixture tooling deflections due to clamping and cutting forces in machining is critical to machining accuracy. An ideal fixture design maximizes locating accuracy and workpiece stability, while minimizing displacements. The purpose of this research is to develop a method for modeling workpiece boundary conditions and applied loads during a machining process, analyze modular fixture tool contact area deformation and optimize support locations, using finite element analysis (FEA). ANSYS parametric design language code is used to develop an algorithm to automatically optimize fixture support and clamp locations, and clamping forces, to minimize work piece deformation, subsequently increasing machining accuracy. By implementing FEA in a computer-aided-fixture-design environment, unnecessary and uneconomical “trial and error” experimentation on the shop floor is eliminated.
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