Chipping analysis and prediction in gear skiving process using multi-infeed strategy

In gear skiving, early-stage cutter chipping significantly reduces tool service life, collectively resulting from the complex skiving force condition and chip flow behavior on the rake face. Thereby, chipping analysis and avoidance are of great interest in the high-performance skiving process design. In this work, we proposed a chip obstruction model in parametric space to realize the chipping prediction based on the skiving force analysis, followed by a detailed investigation on the corresponding force characterization via real-time monitoring and high-frequency force acquisition. For the first time, the chip flow obstruction was modeled with respect to the merging point of separated uncut chip cross sections, enabling the derivation on the time window to label the chipping moment for the high-frequency force monitoring. A single-tooth skiving test incorporating the phase-setover was conducted to validate the proposed model under different chip flow scenarios. Consequently, chipping is effectively avoided by modifying the infeed strategy based on the comparative study on the chipping moment. Chip obstruction was revealed as the primary underlying mechanism for cutter chipping in gear skiving. The chip-obstruction-induced skiving force shock is significant and can be well captured by the high-frequency force signal monitoring based on the proposed model, which can further advance the understanding of chip flow behavior, contributing to the gear skiving process in cutter design, infeed strategy decision-making, and process monitoring.