The use of finite element analysis in studying deformations of parts clamped in machine tool devices

Abstract Increasing the productivity and quality of products while reducing production costs are the main objectives of manufacturing companies in the market economy. For companies that produce parts using cutting processes, these objectives are strongly influenced, among other factors,by the devices used during the manufacturing process. Devices must allow the clamping of workpieces to be done in a short period of time, to have simple construction, to be cheap while positioning and installing errors to be minimal to ensure that the parts correspond to the manufacturing documentation. The calculation of clamping errors of workpieces and devices involves complex analysis, therefore in order to accurately determine these errors, data obtained from experiments, sometimes costly and difficult to be done, are used. This paper presents the clamping force calculation of a prismatic part, as well as the study of elastic deformations that appear by clamping it in the device, using finite element analysis.