Ternary manufacturing envelopes (TMEs) - a new approach to describing machined surfaces

Newley-developed "Ternary Manufacturing Envelopes" were designed to gain an appreciation and greater understanding of three-dimensional parameter char acterisation for a limited range of turning, boring and drilling operations on the same materials-in this case Fe-Cu-C Powder Metallurgy components. T his allowed one to test whether such TEM's gave consistent and reliable res ults in combination with their influence on surface and roundness parameter s, for specific feedrate conditions. Not only can TEM's be utilised for the se examples, but other valid pre-selected metrological and machining parame ters can be combined, as a means of analysing machined surfaces. (C) 1999 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.