Orbital chemical milling
First Claim
1. A method of chemical milling a surface of a workpiece, the steps comprising:
- a. forming a tool comprising a body with a surface of abrasive particles complementary to the intended shape of said workpiece;
b. mounting said workpiece and said tool in an oscillating relationship to each other such that said abrasive surface is opposed to a surface to be machined;
c. introducing a chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece;
d. passivating said workpiece to form a passivation layer thereon;
e. causing a relative contacting motion between said tool and said workpiece such that said abrasive particles on the surface of said tool will abrade said workpiece only on those areas of the workpiece where machining is to be performed and thereby selectively abrade away only selected portions of said passivation layer on said workpiece to expose fresh workpiece metal thereunder, thereby permitting a portion of said workpiece metal to be removed by chemical milling and reform said passivation layer;
f. causing a relative reciprocal motion between said tool and said workpiece sufficient to pump said chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece;
g. causing an advancing motion between said tool and said workpiece while said workpiece metal is being removed so as to maintain contact between said tool and said workpiece.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for chemical milling a workpiece utilizing a chemical milling fluid that is passivating to the workpiece, wherein the tool is provided with an abrasive surface, and said tool and workpiece are brought together with a contacting relative motion so that said abrasive surface will selectively abrade the workpiece to remove any passivation layer therefrom in those areas to be machined and such that the unabraded surface areas will retain the passivation layer to prevent chemical milling thereof, and a reciprocal motion between the tool and workpiece is also effected to pump the chemical milling fluid through the gap between the tool and workpiece and prevent reduction of the milling rate of the milling fluid.
10 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method of chemical milling a surface of a workpiece, the steps comprising:
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a. forming a tool comprising a body with a surface of abrasive particles complementary to the intended shape of said workpiece; b. mounting said workpiece and said tool in an oscillating relationship to each other such that said abrasive surface is opposed to a surface to be machined; c. introducing a chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece; d. passivating said workpiece to form a passivation layer thereon; e. causing a relative contacting motion between said tool and said workpiece such that said abrasive particles on the surface of said tool will abrade said workpiece only on those areas of the workpiece where machining is to be performed and thereby selectively abrade away only selected portions of said passivation layer on said workpiece to expose fresh workpiece metal thereunder, thereby permitting a portion of said workpiece metal to be removed by chemical milling and reform said passivation layer; f. causing a relative reciprocal motion between said tool and said workpiece sufficient to pump said chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece; g. causing an advancing motion between said tool and said workpiece while said workpiece metal is being removed so as to maintain contact between said tool and said workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of chemical milling a surface of a workpiece, the steps comprising:
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a. forming a tool comprising a body with a surface of abrasive particles complementary to the intended shape of said workpiece; b. mounting said workpiece and said tool in an oscillating relationship to each other such that said abrasive surface is opposed to said surface to be machined; c. introducing a chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece; d. causing a relative contacting motion between said tool and said workpiece such that said abrasive particles on the surface of said tool will abrade away any passivation layer formed on said workpiece to expose fresh workpiece metal thereunder, thereby permitting said workpiece metal to be removed by chemical milling; e. causing a relative reciprocal motion between said tool and said workpiece sufficient to pump said chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece to prevent over-heating thereof; f. causing an advancing motion between said tool and said workpiece while said workpiece metal is being removed so as to maintain contact between said tool and said workpiece during each abrading step. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of machining a surface of a workpiece, the steps comprising:
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a. forming a tool comprising a body with a surface of abrasive particles complementary to the intended shape of said workpiece; b. mounting said workpiece and said tool in an oscillating relationship to each other such that said abrasive surface is opposed to said surface to be machined; c. introducing an a chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece which is passivating to said workpiece to form a passivation layer thereon; d. causing a relative orbital motion between said tool and said workpiece in a plane sufficiently different from said surface to be machined such that said relative orbital motion effects a relative reciprocal motion between said tool and said workpiece, sufficient to pump said chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece to prevent over-heating thereof, said orbital motion causing said abrasive particles on the surface of said tool to abrade said workpiece only on those areas of the workpiece where machining is to be performed and thereby selectively abrade away only selected portions of said passivation layer on said workpiece to expose fresh workpiece metal thereunder, thereby permitting a portion of said workpiece metal to be removed by an chemical action of the chemical milling fluid; and e. causing an advancing motion between said tool and said workpiece while said workpiece metal is being removed so as to maintain contact between said tool and said workpiece. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of chemical milling a surface of a workpiece, the steps comprising:
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a. forming a tool comprising a body with a surface of abrasive particles complementary to the intended shape of said workpiece; b. mounting said workpiece and said tool in an oscillating relationship to each other such that said abrasive surface is opposed to said workpiece; c. introducing a chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece; d. causing a relative orbital motion between said tool and said workpiece in a plane sufficiently different from said surface to be machined such that said relative orbital motion effects a relative reciprocal motion between said tool and said workpiece sufficient to pump said chemical milling fluid between said tool and said workpiece, said orbital motion causing said abrasive particles on the surface of said tool to abrade away any passivation layer formed on said workpiece to expose fresh workpiece metal thereunder, thereby permitting said workpiece metal to be removed by; and e. causing an advancing motion between said tool and said workpiece while said workpiece metal is being removed so as to maintain contact between said tool and said workpiece during each abrading step. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification