Research on the Effects of Machining Parameters on the Surface Location Error for a Milling Process

Abstract

The surface location error is an inevitable phenomenon which is caused by the forced vibration under a stable machining process. The surface location error (SLE) is dependent on the machining parameters. Therefore, this paper proposes a method to study the effect of each machining parameter on the surface location error. An algorithm based on the cutting force dynamic model is proposed to predict the SLE in frequency domain. And then a case study is performed on the milling process of a real vertical machining center. The variation ranges of the spindle speed, axial cutting depth, radial cutting depth and feed rate per tooth are first determined. Eight specific values of each machining parameter is selected, and an orthogonal experiment table is established to arrange the schemes to predict the corresponding SLEs. Then the range analysis is used to analyse the values of the machining parameters and the obtained SLEs. Results show that the spindle speed is the most dominant factor affecting the SLE and an optimal machining parameters combination related to a minimum SLE is determined based on the optimal level of each machining parameter.