ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRO-MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MSc. Program

Manufacturing and Automation Assignment

YOHANNES GETINET FTP 1140/11

Dr. BESUFEKAD FETENE

Advisor/Mentor

Feb27,2023
 Acoustic emission (AE)
Monitoring the state of materials and structures has long been done using the non-destructive
testing method known as acoustic emission (AE). In recent years, AE has also been utilized in
manufacturing operations to check tool condition.

The process of AE monitoring entails identifying and evaluating the acoustic signals produced by
the tool while it is in use. When cracks, wear, or other sorts of damage are present, these signals
can offer important information about the tool's state.

AE sensors (Acoustic Emission Sensors) measure high-frequency energy signals that are generated
during material removal from the workpiece and the machine elements involved in the process.
The AE method employs sensors, such as a piezoelectric transducer, that are positioned in contact
with the tool or in the vicinity. They apply an oscillating electric field in order to generate a
mechanical wave. This wave then travels through a material and becomes an electric field, which
can be measured by an inspector. The stress waves produced during cutting produce auditory
emissions, which the transducer detects. The signals can be analyzed to track tool wear and
chipping.

These sensors pick up the tool's acoustic emissions and send them to a monitoring system. The
real-time signal analysis by the monitoring system yields information on the tool's health. Using
AE for tool condition monitoring has advantages such as the early damage detection that can assist
avoid catastrophic failure and minimize downtime. By enabling prompt maintenance and tool
replacement, AE monitoring can also assist optimize tool performance and lower expenses.

COMMON APPLICATIONS AND INDUSTRIES FOR AE

Inspectors typically use AE to look for:

• Corrosion—on the surfaces of various types of materials

• Coating removal—of protective coatings put on materials

• Faults/defects—for monitoring welding and for other general flaw detection

• Leaks—in pipe systems or storage tanks

• Partial discharges—from components subject to high voltage

For fiber specifically, AE is commonly used to test for cracking, corrosion, delamination, and
breakages.

Here are some of the most common applications for acoustic testing:

• Airplane longevity estimation

• Bridge inspections

• Concrete corrosion monitoring

• Mine wall stability inspections

• Pressure vessel inspections

• Structural integrity inspections

• Wind turbine inspections

Advantages of AE

• It gives you a direct measure of failure mechanisms

• It is highly sensitive

• It provides data immediately

• It is non-destructive to the material being tested

• It allows for a structure to be globally monitored

• It can be used in hazardous environments, including those that have high pressures, are
irradiated, or have high temperatures

• It can be done remotely, and can detect defects in materials that might be hard to test using
other methods
Disadvantages of AE

One of the drawbacks to AE is that it’s not always reliable, in part because it is still a relatively
new method.

Here are the main cons for acoustic testing:

• Its usefulness is generally limited to locating a defect, not describing it in detail that is,
commercial acoustic testing systems can only provide qualitative estimations for the extent
of damage found

• It cannot detect defects that do not change over time (i.e., defects that don’t move or grow)

 It can be slow to implement

• It can be hard to use because AE signals can be very weak, making noise reduction and
signal discrimination crucial for accurate readings

Acoustic Emission Technique

To use AE testing, inspectors start by thoroughly cleaning the surface of the object they want to
inspect.

After cleaning, they will place acoustic emission sensors onto the structure or material that they
want to inspect.

Sensors will need to be mounted on the structure with an appropriate couplant that is, a medium to
help the transmission of the acoustic signal. Adhesives or grease are commonly used for this
purpose.

Once attached, the sensors will convert any stress waves present in the material into electrical
signals so that they can be read by the inspector.

Inspectors feed data from the sensors to a monitor using shielded coaxial cables, displaying the
information in the form of both readable results and raw data. Once the data is available, inspectors
interpret it to identify where there is stress on the object they are inspecting, and look for the
possible locations of defects caused by that stress.
Determinations for the number of sensors an inspector will need for a given structure are made
according to several factors, including:

• The complexity of the material or structure

• The size of the structure

• The type of material being tested

THE KAISER EFFECT

The Kaiser effect refers to the absence of acoustic emission in an object until the level of stress
that was previously applied to it has been exceeded.

The effect was first discovered in 1950, when a researcher named Kaiser found that metals could
“remember” the maximum amount of stress to which they had previously been subjected.

Due to the Kaiser effect, a structure could be under damaging stress that inspectors cannot identify
using AE if that stress has not exceeded the prior amount of stress the structure has experienced.

Acoustic Emission Testing Equipment

Here are the types of acoustic emission equipment used in acoustic testing.

TRANSDUCERS / SENSORS / STRAIN GAUGES

These devices collect raw acoustic emission data. They are also called:

• Piezoelectric transducers

• Piezoelectric sensors

• Strain gauges

The most common set of transducers for AE testing consists of two sets of interdigital transducers,
which is a device made of two interlocking, comb-shaped arrays of metallic electrodes arranged
like a zipper.

One of the transducers converts electric field energy into mechanical wave energy, and the other
transducer converts the mechanical wave energy back into an electric field.
Here are some of the different types of acoustic sensors:

• Thickness shear mode resonator. Measures metal deposition rates.

• Displacement gauges. A strain gauge that converts the acoustic emission of displacement
caused by stress on a structure into electronic readings.

• Accelerator gauges. A strain gauge that converts the acoustic emission of velocity caused
by stress on a structure into electronic readings.

• Bulk acoustic wave device (BAW). A machine that propagates waves through the substrate
of a material or structure. surface wave devices

• Surface acoustic wave sensor (SH-SAW). A type of BAW device used to detect acoustic
emissions on the surface of a material.

• Surface transverse wave sensor (STW). A type of BAW device used to detect acoustic
emissions on the surface of a material.

In conclusion, using acoustic emission to monitor the status of tools is a useful technique that can
give vital information on the state of the tools and boost the effectiveness of manufacturing
processes.
 Interpolation in NC Machines

Any type of programming that involves data points must interpolate data points between supplied
coordinate axis positions. The drives move simultaneously from the beginning to the finish of the
command thanks to an interpolator, which is a component of the Machine Control Unit (MCU).
Either a software application for a CNC system or an electrical hardware device for an NC system
serves as the interpolator. An interpolator provides two functions:

• It calculates individual axis velocities to drive the tool along the programmed path at the
given feed rate.

• It generates thousands of intermediate coordinate points along the programmed path

between the start point and the end point of the cut.

During positioning, all programmed axes move simultaneously at the specified feed rates until
each axis has reached its destination. All drives start together, but without interpolator individual
destinations are reached successively according to the path traveled. However, an interpolator
coordinates these axis motions in such a way that the programmed path is constantly maintained
from the beginning to the end of the movement. There different interpolation techniques are:

Linear, Circular, Helical, Parabolic and Cubic

• Linear and circular interpolation are most commonly used in CNC programming
applications:

• Linear interpolation is used for straight-line machining between two points.

• Circular interpolation is used for circles and arcs.

• Helical interpolation, used for threads and helical forms, is available on many CNC
machines.

• Parabolic and cubic interpolation are used by industries that manufacture parts having
complex shape such as aerospace parts.
 1. Linear Interpolation

Rapid positional motion and linear interpolation go hand in hand. Rapid tool motion is intended to
be used to move from one part of the work area to another without cutting, whereas linear
interpolation mode is intended to remove actual material through cutting motions like contouring,
pocketing, face milling, and many more.

In part programming, linear interpolation is used to create a straight cutting motion from the cutter's
start point to its finish position. The shortest cutting tool route possible is always used. When
programming in linear interpolation mode, a straight line linking the contour's start and finish
points is always used as the motion. In this mode, the cutter switches positions by travelling the
smallest distance possible between the end locations. This is a crucial programming feature that is
mostly utilized for contouring and profiling. In order to be precise, all angular motion (such as
chamfers, bevels, angles, tapers, etc.) must be coded in this mode.

Three types of motion can be generated in the linear interpolation mode:

• Horizontal motion (single axis only)

• Vertical motion (single axis only)
• Angular motion (multiple axes)

The term linear interpolation means that the control system is capable to calculate thousands of
intermediate coordinate points between the start point and end point of the cut. Result of this
calculation is the shortest path between the two points. All calculations are automatic where the
control system constantly coordinates and adjusts the feed rate for all cutting axes, normally two
or three.

Linear Command

G01 Linear interpolation (linear motion)

The feed rate function F must be active in G01 mode. A feed rate must be active in the initial
program block that launches linear interpolation mode; otherwise, an alarm will sound during the
first run after powering on. Once they have been designated and as long as the feed rate does not
change, command G01 and feed rate F may be excluded from all subsequent linear interpolation
blocks because they are modal. Only a change of coordinate location is required for the axis
designation in a program block. In addition to a single axis motion, linear motion along two or
three axes may be also programmed simultaneously.

Start and End of the Linear Motion

Linear motion, like any other motion in CNC programming, is a motion between two end points
of a contour. It has the start position and the end position. Any start position is often called the
departure position, the end position is often called the target position. Start of a linear motion is
defined by the current tool position, its end is defined by the target coordinates of the current block.
It is easy to see that the end position of one motion will become the start position of the next
motion, as the cutter moves along the part, through all contour change points.

Single Axis Linear Interpolation

For CNC machining centers and the related machines, all tool motions that are parallel to the table
edges are single axis motions. On CNC lathes, many external and internal operations, such as
facing, shoulder turning, diameter turning, drilling, tapping and others, are programmed as single
axis motions. In all cases, a single axis motion can be along either the vertical or the horizontal
axis, within the current (working) plane. A single axis motion can never be an angular motion,
which requires two or three axes. Another name for a motion that is parallel to a machine axis is
orthogonal – horizontal or vertical only.

Figure 1 Single axis linear interpolation motion

Two Axes Linear Interpolation

Linear motion can also be programmed along two axes simultaneously. This is a very common
situation when the start point of linear motion and its end point have at least two coordinates that
are different from each other, while in linear interpolation mode G01. The result of this two-axis
motion is a straight tool motion at an angle. Such motion will always be the shortest distance
between the start point and end point.

Figure 2 Two axes simultaneous linear interpolation motion

Three Axis Linear Interpolation
Linear motion that takes place along three axes at the same time, is called the three-axis linear
interpolation. A simultaneous linear motion along three axes is possible on virtually all CNC
machining centers. Programming a linear motion of this kind is not always easy, particularly when
working with complex parts. Due to many difficult calculations involved in this type of tool
motion, the manual programming method is not efficient enough. Such programming projects
more than justify an investment into a professional computer-based programming system, such as
the very powerful and widely used Mastercam™, that is based on modern computer technology
combined with machining know-how.
 Figure 3 Three axes simultaneous linear interpolation motion

2. Circular Interpolation
Circular interpolation is used for programming arcs or complete circles in such applications as
outside and inside radiuses (blend and partial), circular pockets, spherical or conical shapes, radial
recesses, grooves, corner breaks, helical cutting, even large counterbores, etc. CNC unit will
interpolate a defined arc with a very high precision, if the necessary information is given in the
program. Programming method of controlling a toolpath along an arc is similar to the method of
programming a toolpath along a line.

Cutting Circular Tool Paths

All rotating end mills have their own angular velocity at the outside diameter. But when the tool
path is circular, there is an additional component that is introduced, resulting in a compound
angular velocity. Basically, this means the velocity of the outside diameter is travelling at a
substantially different velocity than originally expected. The cause of the compound angular
velocity is seen in the disparity between the tool path lengths.

 Internal Circular Tool Paths

Figure A shows the cross section of a cutting tool on a linear path, with the teeth having angular
velocity due to tool rotation, and the center of the tool having a linear feed. Note that the tool path
length will always be equal to the length of the machined edge. Figure B shows the same cutting
tool on an internal circular path, as done when machining a hole. In this case, the angular velocity
of the teeth is changed as a result of an additional component from the circular path of the tool’s
center. The diameter of the tool path is smaller than that of the major diameter being cut. Or, in
other words, the tool path length is shorter than the machined edge length, increasing the angular
velocity of the teeth. To prevent overfeeding and the possibility of tool breakage, the increased
angular velocity of the teeth must be made the same as in the linear case in Figure A.

Figure 4 Internal Circular Tool Paths

 External Circular Tool Paths

Figure C shows the same cutting tool on an external circular path, as done when machining a post.
In this case, the diameter of the tool path is larger than the major diameter being cut. This means
that the tool path length is longer than the machined edge length, resulting in a decreased angular
velocity. To prevent premature dulling and poor tool life due to over-speeding, use the formula for
external adjusted feed we can properly raise the feed rate for external machining. In this way, the
decreased angular velocity of the teeth is made the same as in the linear case in Figure A.

Figure 5 External circular path

 3. Helical Interpolation

This application requires a milling machine with three-axis control capability. The operation
consists of a cutter rotating about its own axis together in an orbiting motion about an ID or OD
workpiece circumference in the “X” and “Y” plane. The circular movement about the “X” and “Y”
plane, with a simultaneous linear movement in the Z-axis plane (which is perpendicular to the “X”
and “Y” plane), creates the helical movement. For example, the path from point A to point B on
the envelope of the cylinder combines a circular movement in the “X” and “Y” plane with a linear
movement in the “Z” direction. On most CNC systems, this function can be executed in two
different ways:

• GO2: helical interpolation in a clockwise direction.

• GO3: helical interpolation in a counterclockwise direction

Figure 6 Helical Interpolation on a cylinder

Helical interpolation for the purpose of creating a hole from a solid or for opening an existing hole
is a very useful and versatile technique. This operation is programmed by adding a Z-axis
movement to a simple circular interpolation command. Typically programming this operation is
done using CAM software. Helical interpolation is one of the most reliable hole making processes
in the market. In a helical interpolation operation, a single tool can cover a range of different hole
diameters, which means less tooling in the magazine. Other advantages include the ability to
manufacture large-diameter holes using machines that lack the horsepower or rigidity to drill large
holes reliably, and the fact helical interpolation works well in numerous materials. In helical
interpolation, using high-feed milling is suitable when making large-diameter holes because it
typically eliminates the need for predrilling the hole.
 4. Parabolic Interpolation

Numerical control (NC) devices use the parabolic interpolation technique to precisely control the
movements of machine tools along curved paths. With this method, a collection of three data
points—typically the tool's current location, the desired end position, and a midpoint position—
are fitted with a parabolic curve.

It uses three non-collinear points to approximate curves that are of free forms. It reduces the
number of programmed points by as much as 50 times the number required by the linear
interpolation mode. It is mainly used in mold and die making.

The parabolic curve represents the tool's motion, and the interpolation algorithm calculates the
tool's position at regular intervals along this curve. This allows the machine to follow a smooth
and continuous path, which is essential for achieving precise and accurate cuts.

Overall, parabolic interpolation is a powerful tool for achieving precise and accurate cuts in NC
machines, and it is widely used in the manufacturing industry to produce high-quality parts and
components.

5. Cubic Interpolation

Cubic interpolation is a common method used in NC machines (numerical control machines) to

generate smooth and continuous tool paths for machining operations.

Complex objects may be precisely and accurately machined using NC machines because they
employ numerical data to control the movement of cutting tools. The NC controller uses
interpolation methods to provide the smooth and continuous motion needed for the machining
operation from the tool path, which is normally defined by a collection of discrete points or
coordinates.

Cubic interpolation is a type of spline interpolation that uses a cubic polynomial to smoothly
interpolate between data points. It is often used in NC machining because it provides a good
balance between smoothness and accuracy.

In cubic interpolation, a curve is defined by a set of four points or coordinates, and a cubic
polynomial is used to interpolate between the second and third points. The cubic polynomial is
defined by a set of four coefficients, which are calculated based on the values of the four points.
The resulting curve is smooth and continuous, with a well-defined slope and curvature.

Cubic interpolation is used in many different types of NC machining operations, including milling,
turning, and wire EDM (electrical discharge machining). It is particularly useful for machining
curved surfaces, where the tool path needs to follow a smooth and continuous path to ensure an
accurate and high-quality result.