Abstract: Complex structural component of thin-walled parts has been widely used in the field of aerospace engineering. However, because of its low rigidity, large machining deformation can often be caused by excessive milling forces in the milling process, which seriously affects the processing quality and precision of the workpiece. In view of the problem, a method based on finite element and orthogonal dominance analysis is proposed to optimize the cutting parameters and reduce the part distortion. With the method, an orthogonal test plan is designed to regulate the finite element distortion analysis scheme, and through the analysis of results of simulation data, the influence of milling factors such as cutting speed, milling depth, milling width and feed per tooth on distortion is investigated to get better levels to be chosen, moreover by the application of dominance analysis method, the contribution rate of milling factors upon machining distortions can be determined in order to get the influence of various factors and make sure the optimized scheme. Taking a kind of thin-walled component for example, an optimized milling parameters combination is acquired, and the result shows that the optimized combination can reduce distortion in the milling process and proves the validity and feasibility of that method.

Key words: Cutting parameters, Finite element, Optimization, Orthogonal dominance analysis, Thin-walled components