Design of material removal rate to reduce machining time of dental crown

Freeform surface grinding is one of the commonly used dental medical manufacturing processes. In dentistry machining, zirconia is one of main workpieces used for artificial teeth. Machining process for grinding of the ceramic usually takes a long time. In order to reduce this production time, it is critical to apply proper grinding parameters while maintaining high quality of machined artificial teeth. Required material removal rate (MRR) for workpiece can be used to determine the grinding parameters. However, it has been hard to find grinding parameters achieving a proper MRR of complex 3D models like as human teeth. In this study, MRR is predicted by using geometric data in the engagement region between machining bur and its workpiece while the MRR varies all along the tool path. Simulations of the machining time shows that the machining time can be reduced by adjusting the bur's feed rate to maintain the predicted MRR.