High speed machining - HSM

Abstract

The Brazilian scientific and technological development has been significantly large in the last few years, specifically in numbers of published scientific papers. The country has improved its publishing indexes mainly because of contributions from the Engineering/Technology area. Those good indexes, however, have not being matched by patent registrations and, the implementation of innovations by industries has been in very low numbers. That contrast seems to indicate an apparent lack of scientific research directed to industrial applications, in a way of improve the industry profile, producing goods with high aggregated value. Therefore, products aimed at the internal, or external, market would have better value with immediate benefits to life quality of the whole population. The Universities of São Paulo, and its researchers involved in the present thematic project, have performed an important role within such scenario, since they possess an immense potential for researches in scientific and technological area. Their laboratories are modern and well equipped, like the best in the world. Such facilities are being concentrating efforts to develop products and processes with higher aggregated value. Additionally, they have research personnel with high qualification, certified by the most advanced institutes and universities in the world. Those research teams have been working together for such a long time obtaining important finds and scientific developments. They have, thus, capacity to carry out researches aimed at scientific development, which will extend the knowledge frontiers, though innovative models and simulations. Contrastingly, by their primary formation as engineers, this team put together at the present proposal, will also be able to develop applied researches with a true possibility of immediate help to the national industrial community. The present research project will be deep exploring the theme "High Speed Machining - HSM", an area of extreme importance to the production system of metal working industries installed in Brazil. It is a very broad theme with great needs due to recent break-trough's, which has not been fully understood yet. With use of such technology, the molds and dies industries, for example, which gather together 8 thousand industries (about 50% of those in the State of São Paulo), have manage to shift their position from importer to exporter. It is estimated that in the year of 2004 that business increases about 15%. Some industries have already their full capacity compromised up to the end of 2005. In this sector are from small family industries to big ones and owners say "A HSM machine changes radically the whole concept one has about tooling shops due 'to the enormous cycle time reduction it brings". One can realize then, the importance and broadness of studying the Technology of HSM, a theme to be studied by a team with 7 of the best researchers in the area, located at 5 institutions in the State of São Paulo. It is believed that the inclusion of Brazil amongst the 6 only countries employing the HSM technology, due to the first thematic project, process FAPESP 00/02962-4, has brought great benefits in competitiveness, mainly in industries of molds, dies and aeronautics. In order to be able to lead this benefit towards a larger number of industries, as well as achieve new developments and make them a competitiveness edge, it is intended to continue the researches in the topic for the next four years. In this second edition the scientific production and industrial applications will certainly be higher, since the team has more experience and has positively demonstrated its capacity and competence for the last four years. At the present moment, the researchers also indicate absolute conditions of achieving new scientific breaks and innovative models of material removal at high speeds, by means of computer simulations, being the first country to produce this kind of technology. (AU)