An overview of turn-milling technology

Turn-milling is an advanced processing technology. It has a strong ability of producing complicated curved surfaces or special-shaped parts, wherein both the cutting tool and workpiece are given a rotary motion simultaneously. In the field of aviation manufacturing, instead of using conventional grinding technologies, extensive studies have been conducted to produce difficult-to-cut thin-walled workpieces. In this paper, an overview is given based on existing works on turn-milling technology. Firstly, workpiece types used in the turn-milling were summarized. After this, the turn-milling mechanization and cutting process were studied. The research status of the chip formation, cutting force, chatter stability, and surface quality was analyzed respectively based on the turn-milling mechanization and forming process before presenting some suggestions and predictions for future turn-milling research and applications. The results of this review are useful for gaining some insights on key foundations and references on turn-milling for future researchers and research areas.