Abstract
The objective of this paper is to explore the evaluation method of manufacturing process to verify its effectiveness based on the limitation of the variations which occur in multi-station machining processes. Firstly, the manufacturing process of a mechanical part is considered as a mechanism mainly consisted of machine-tool, part-holders, machined part, and cutting tools; And small displacement torsors (SDTs) are applied to describe all deviations in the manufacturing process, including the variation deviations of the machined surfaces of a part with regards to their nominal positions, the gap deviations associated to each joint between two contact surfaces, etc; Then, the 3D manufacturing variation model is established based on the relations between the machining feature variations and the functional tolerance requirements to realize the evaluation of manufacturing process. Finally, an application example is given to illustrate the proposed method.