Design and Manufacturing of a High-Sensitivity Cutting Force Sensor Based on AlSiCO Ceramic

On-line cutting force measurement is an effective way to monitor processing quality, improve processing accuracy, and protect the tool. In high-speed and ultra-precision machining, status monitoring is particularly necessary to ensure machining accuracy. However, the cutting force is very small in high speed and ultra-precision machining. Therefore, high-sensitivity cutting force sensors are needed. Current commercial cutting force sensors have defects such as large volume, low compatibility, and high price. In particular, the sensitivity of cutting force sensor needs to be improved for high-speed and ultra-precision machining status monitoring. This paper provides a possible solution by embedding the sensor in the tool and selecting sensitive materials with high piezoresistive coefficient. In this paper, the structural design of the sensor and the fabrication of the sensitive material SiAlCO ceramic are carried out, and then the sensor is packaged and tested. The test results show that the cutting force sensor’s sensitivity was as high as 219.38 mV/N, which is a feasible way to improve cutting force sensor’s compatibility and sensitivity.