Analysis on milling stability of fuel tank's bottom combined with surface location error prediction

Abstract

The bottom of fuel tank is a lightweight thin-walled part with large size and complex surfaces. Its processing quality directly determines the reliability of the whole rocket. This paper conducts the predictions of both milling stability and surface location error (SLE) based on the theory of regenerative chatter vibration. We proposed a new type of stability lobe diagram (SLD) combined with the contour map of SLE. Then, we studied the changes of the bottom's dynamic parameters through FEA method, which would be influenced by the removal of material during machining. By using the dynamic parameters as inputs, we obtained a series of SLDs and the processing parameters which will lead to no-chatter and low SLE under different processing periods. The efficient and high-precision milling of the fuel tank's bottom can also be guaranteed.