STEP-NC Based High-level Machining Simulations Integrated with CAD/CAPP/CAM

With the development of manufacturing, numerical control (NC) machining simulation has become a modern tool to obtain safe and reliable machining operations. Although some research and commercial software about NC machining simulations is available, most of them is oriented for GM code. It is a low-level data model for computer numerical control (CNC), which has inherent drawbacks such as incomplete data and lack of accuracy. These limitations hinder the development of a real simulation system. Whereas, standard for the exchange of product data-compliant numerical control (STEP-NC) is a new and high-level data model for CNC. It provides rich information for CNC machine tools, which creates the condition for an informative and real simulation. Therefore, this paper proposes STEP-NC based high-level NC machining simulations solution integrated with computer-aided design/computer-aided process planning/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAPP/CAM). It turned out that the research provides a better informed simulation environment and promotes the development of modern manufacturing.