摘要：Benefiting from advances in feature technology for design and manufacture can not be expected before a formal methodology is established. This paper makes attempt to establish a definition formalism of machining features in design for manufacturability from two aspects: formal definition and manufacturability analysis. Some definitions for machining feature based upon the selection and sequencing of material removal operations for component in accordance with the design geometry are presented and a framework of feature based design for manufacturability is outlined correspondingly. The proposed scheme contributes to several aspects of feature based CAD/CAM integration, especially to encourage potentially a more generic approach to the automation of design.