Precision Engineering

Introduction

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Introduction - History
The philosophy of precision engineering - early 1930s - very
broad context.
Today, renowned bodies in this engineering discipline such as
➢ Japanese Society of Precision Engineering (JSPE),
➢ American Society of Precision Engineering (ASPE)
➢ European Society for Precision Engineering and
Nanotechnology (EUSPEN) and
➢ International Academy for Production Research (CIRP—
Collège International Recherhe Production)
The initial objective of this association was to focus on research on
precision machinery with achieving a high accuracy being one of its
functions.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 Introduction
Precision manufacturing is a subset of a much larger
domain commonly referred to as “precision engineering”.

A number of definitions of precision engineering exist,

depending upon whom you ask and when.
“Precision Engineering is a discipline encompassing the
design, development, and measurement of and for high-
accuracy components. By extension, the field also includes
the design of systems in which high dimensional accuracy is
a central concern, as well as the design of machine tools and
measuring machines to accomplish the necessary
manufacture and measurement.”
---American Society of Precision Engineering (ASPE)

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

McKeown's chart
showing the scale
of things: where
microtechnology
and
nanotechnology fit

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 The Difference between Accuracy and Precision
As people tend to generally consider accuracy and precision
as having one and the same meaning

The term accuracy simply refers to the degree of agreement

of the measured dimension with its true magnitude or, in other
words, it is the ability to hit what is aimed at, whereas the term
precision refers to the degree to which an instrument can give
the same value when repeated measurements of the same
standard are made. In short, precision pertains to the
repeatability of a process.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

The distinct difference between accuracy and precision is

explained here from two different perspectives:
To understand the first perspective, let us consider a
marksman who has fired twenty shots to hit the centre of a
target, the bull’s eye, which is represented by the area within
the circle shown in Figure 1.3.
The figure shows the possible outcomes of the exercise
illustrating the difference between the terms accuracy and
precision.
It is worth noting that measuring instruments do not give a true
reading because of problems pertaining to accuracy and
precision. Similarly, a marksman may not hit his desired target
for the same reason given earlier in the case of measurements

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 College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Fig 1.3 a) Accurate because their average is close to the

central point of the circle. There is no precision because the
process has too much of scatter.

Figure 1.3 (b), the repeated shots in the series are seen to
be precise (very close to one another) indicating the
repeatability of the process, even though the shots had not
been hit exactly at the centre of the circle; hence, in this
case, there is no accuracy.

Figure 1.3 (c) shows the series of repeated shots tightly

compacted around the true shot (at the centre of the circle),
and these shots are both accurate and precise.

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 College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 Need for having a High Precision
For achieving a higher precision in the manufacture of a part
using precision engineering, Nakazawa [1] and McKeown [3]
have summarized some objectives and these are to:
1. Create a highly precise movement
2. Reduce the dispersion of the product's or part's function
3. Eliminate fitting and promote assembly especially automatic
assembly
4. Reduce the initial cost
5. Reduce the running cost
6. Extend the life span

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Need for having a High Precision

7. Enable the design safety factor to be lowered
8. Improve interchangeability of components so that
corresponding parts made by other factories or firms can be
used in their place
9. Improve quality control through higher machine accuracy
capabilities and hence reduce scrap, rework, and
conventional inspection
10. Achieve a greater wear/fatigue life of components
11. Make functions independent of one another
12. Achieve greater miniaturization and packing densities
13. Achieve further advances in technology and the underlying
sciences

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Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 Developmental Perspective of Machining Precision
The increasing demand for precision manufacturing of components
for computers, electronics, and nuclear energy and defence
applications dates back to the early 1960s. Examples of these
components are optical mirrors, computer memory discs, and drums
for photocopying machines, with a surface finish in the nanometre
range and a form accuracy in the micron or the sub-micron range.

According to McKeown, precision engineering can be classified into

two important subsets, microtechnology, in which the physical scale
of the products is small (in manufacturing terms being made to
dimensions and tolerances of the order of micrometers mm) and
nanotechnology, in which dimensions and tolerances are of the
order of nanometers (nm) (Figure 1.1).

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 MACHINING
ACCURACY

High-
Normal Precision Ultra-precision
precision
machining machining machining
machining

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Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 Tool Materials for Precision Machining

Cutting tool materials are required to have several properties

that enhance the efficiency of the material removal process.
The main requirements for cutting tool materials:
➢ High hot hardness
➢ High wear resistance
➢ High-temperature physical and chemical stability
➢ Toughness or high resistance to brittle fracture

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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It indicates that single-crystal diamond which is widely used
for ultra-precision applications has the highest hot hardness
and wear resistance, but it lacks toughness in terms of which
it is quite surprising that this earliest tool material still holds an
edge over other materials. Carbon steels and high-speed
steels are of excellent toughness. A clearer picture can be
obtained from Table 2.2 that indicates the relative values of
several properties for each of the cutting tool materials.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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 College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Hardness- "Resistance to wear, machining, cutting,

scratching, indentation.“
In materials engineering and metallurgy, hot
hardness or red hardness (when a metal glows a dull red
from the heat) corresponds to hardness of a material at high
temperatures.
As the temperature of material increases, hardness
decreases and at some point a drastic change in hardness
occurs. The hardness at this point is termed
the hot or red hardness of that material. Such changes can
be seen in materials such as heat treated alloys.

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Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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Compressive strength or compression strength is the
capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending
to reduce size, as opposed to tensile strength, which
withstands loads tending to elongate.
In other words, compressive strength resists compression
(being pushed together), whereas tensile strength resists
tension (being pulled apart).

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture,

or bend strength, or transverse rupture strength is a
material property, defined as the stress in a material just before
it yields in a flexure test. The transverse bending test is most
frequently employed, in which a specimen having either a
circular or rectangular cross-section is bent until fracture or
yielding using a three point flexural test technique. The flexural
strength represents the highest stress experienced within the
material at its moment of yield. It is measured in terms of
stress.

The flexural strength is stress at failure

in bending. It is equal or slightly larger
than the failure stress in tension.

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 Toughness -" The strain energy stored by body upto
fracture."
In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability
of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without
fracturing. One definition of material toughness is the amount
of energy per unit volume that a material can absorb
before rupturing. It is also defined as a material's resistance
to fracture when stressed.
Toughness requires a balance of strength and ductility.

Resilience- "The strain energy stored by body upto elastic

limit"/"Recoverable/elastic strain energy”.
Stiffness- "Resistance to deformation like elongation,
twisting, bending, rotation, deflection"

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

An elastic modulus (also known as modulus of elasticity) is

a number that measures an object or substance's resistance
to being deformed elastically (i.e., non-permanently) when
a stress is applied to it. The elastic modulus of an object is
defined as the slope of its stress–strain curve in the elastic
deformation region. A stiffer material will have a higher elastic
modulus.

The coefficient of thermal expansion(Y) describes how the

size of an object changes with a change in temperature.
Specifically, it measures the fractional change in size per
degree change in temperature at a constant pressure.

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➢ High-speed steel was discovered by Taylor and White in the
early 1900s, and its introduction made possible a
considerable increase in cutting speeds (and thus the
name). Today, the same speeds are considered to be
comparatively low.
➢ High-speed steel consists of alloying elements, mainly
tungsten (about 18%) and chromium (about 4%). It may also
contain cobalt, vanadium or molybdenum.
➢ High-speed steel is relatively inexpensive and tough, but
has a limited hot hardness and can only be used for cutting
temperatures up to 550 °C.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

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Cast alloy tools, also known as satellites, were introduced in
1915, and consist of 38–53% cobalt, 30–33% chromium and
10–20% tungsten.
They have a somewhat better tool life than high-speed
steels, under certain conditions. However, they are fragile
and weak in tension and tend to shatter when subjected to
shock load. Therefore, cast alloy tools are only used for
special applications that involve deep, continuous roughing
operations at relatively high feeds and speeds for machining
cast iron, malleable iron and hard bronzes.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

➢ Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: WC) is a chemical

compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts
of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten
carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed
into shapes through a process called sintering.
➢ Sintered tungsten carbide - cobalt cutting tools are very abrasion
resistant and can also withstand higher temperatures than
standard high-speed steel (HSS) tools. Carbide cutting surfaces
are often used for machining through materials such as carbon
steel or stainless steel, and in applications where steel tools
would wear quickly, such as high-quantity and high-precision
production. Because carbide tools maintain a sharp cutting edge
better than steel tools, they generally produce a better finish on
parts, and their temperature resistance allows faster machining.

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Titanium carbide, TiC, is an extremely hard (Mohs 9–
9.5) refractory ceramic material, similar to tungsten carbide. It has
the appearance of black powder with the sodium chloride (face-
centered cubic) crystal structure. As found in nature its crystals
range in size from 0.1 to 0.3mm.
Titanium carbide is used in preparation of cermets, which are
frequently used to machine steel materials at high cutting speed. It
is also used as an abrasion-resistant surface coating on metal
parts, such as tool bits and watch mechanisms. Titanium carbide is
also used as a heat shield coating for atmospheric
reentry of spacecraft.
Titanium carbide has an elastic modulus of approximately 400 GPa
and a shear modulus of 188 GPa.
Tool bits without tungsten content can be made of titanium carbide
in nickel-cobalt matrix cermet, enhancing the cutting speed,
precision, and smoothness of the workpiece.

College of Engineering Pune (COEP)

Dr. B.U. Sonawane, DPEIM

Boron nitride is a heat and chemically resistant refractory compound

of boron and nitrogen with the chemical formula BN. It exists in
various crystalline forms that are isoelectronic to a similarly
structured carbon lattice. The hexagonal form corresponding to graphite is
the most stable and soft among BN polymorphs, and is therefore used as a
lubricant and an additive to cosmetic products. The cubic (sphalerite
structure) variety analogous to diamond is called c-BN; it is softer than
diamond, but its thermal and chemical stability is superior. The
rare wurtzite BN modification is similar to lonsdaleite and may even be
harder than the cubic form.
Because of excellent thermal and chemical stability, boron nitride ceramics
are traditionally used as parts of high-temperature equipment.
Cubic form (c-BN): It has a crystal structure analogous to that of diamond.
Consistent with diamond being less stable than graphite, the cubic form is less
stable than the hexagonal form, but the conversion rate between the two is
negligible at room temperature, as it is for diamond. The cubic form has the
sphalerite crystal structure, the same as that of diamond, and is also called β-BN or
c-BN.

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Features of single crystal diamond tool
Single-crystal diamond tools allow for surface processing with mirror-
finished surfaces (photoconductive drums, acrylics) and fine-groove
processing (holograms, diffraction grating, lens sheet dies) using
nanometer-class sharp edges.
Diamond cutting tools are used for various applications in
nonferrous metal processing as they have superior sharpness and
excellent wear resistance. Ultra-precision diamond cutting tools
made of single-crystal diamond are used for processing resin
molds for optical disk pickup lenses and smartphone camera
lenses, as well as optical prism molds for liquid crystal panels.
These tools are also used for the ultra-precision processing of
laser reflecting mirrors in optical components. Meanwhile, a five-
axe cutting machine that can operate in the 1-nm level was
developed. To be employed for this machine, high-precision and
small diamond cutting tools are required.

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