Work holding assessment of an UV adhesive and fixture design method

Adhesive work holding can be used to minimize clamping distortion and provide greater access to a work piece during machining. This paper proposes shear and tensile strength criteria to evaluate the work holding strength of adhesive grippers and definition of a strength safety coefficient of adhesive grippers. It also demonstrates a case study of work holding design with an UV adhesive for a grinding process based on a strength criteria explained in the paper. A test rig has been designed and manufactured to assess the capability of an adhesive work holding material. Tests include measurement of strength and repeatability of adhesion under different film thicknesses, curing times and pre-cleaning methods. The test shows the strength repeatability is less than ± 20%, which is good enough for many work holding applications. A shear-tensile combined strength can be evaluated by the strength sphere in a fixture design of a specific part geometry for production by the combined safety coefficient. Following the test rig assessment, a fixture has been designed with 3 grippers to demonstrate the adhesive for a grinding process with a simple part geometry. The method has a high potential for application in industry, and is not limited to the given part geometry and machining method. The grinding test shows that the adhesive work holding is strong enough for the application and that similar results can be expected for milling and turning with a good gripper arrangement.