Abstract

Acoustic emission (AE) has been shown to be a useful technique in monitoring the state of wear in machine tools [1]. AE (or stress wave emission) produced by meted cutting processes generates various wave modes in the tool and workpiece, including out of plane vibrations of amplitude in the order of 1nm, in the frequency range 0.1-1MHz. Conventionally, contacting piezoelectric transducers have been used for AE detection. These are generally resonant devices with maximum sensitivities in the region 100kHz-500kHz and relatively narrow bandwidths. A non-contact technique of broader bandwidth would be preferred [2]. We have developed a technique based on a fibre optic homodyne Michelson interferometer [3] with a robust probe head which is capable of detection of AE waves during milling and other machining operations. AE was detected probing both the workpiece and the rotating tool holder.

© 1992 Optical Society of America