Dynamics and Stability of Turn-Milling Operations With Varying Time Delay in Discrete Time Domain

Turn-milling machines are widely used in industry because of their multifunctional capabilities in producing complex parts in one setup. Both milling cutter and workpiece rotate simultaneously while the machine travels in three Cartesian directions leading to five axis kinematics with complex chip generation mechanism. This paper presents a general mathematical model to predict the chip thickness, cutting force, and chatter stability of turn milling operations. The dynamic chip thickness is modeled by considering the rigid body motion, relative vibrations between the tool and workpiece, and cutter-workpiece engagement geometry. The dynamics of the process are governed by delayed differential equations by time periodic coefficients with a time varying delay contributed by two simultaneously rotating spindles and kinematics of the machine. The stability of the system has been solved in semidiscrete time domain as a function of depth of cut, feed, tool spindle speed, and workpiece speed. The stability model has been experimentally verified in turn milling of Aluminum alloy cut with a helical cylindrical end mill.