Variable-step integration method for milling chatter stability prediction with multiple delays

Abstract

This paper analyzes the stability of milling with variable pitch cutter and tool runout cases characterized by multiple delays, and proposes a new variable-step numerical integration method for efficient and accurate stability prediction. The variable-step technique is emphasized here to expand the numerical integration method, especially for the low radial immersion cases with multiple delays. First, the calculation accuracy of the numerical integration method is discussed and the variable-step algorithm is developed for milling stability prediction for single-delay and multiple-delay cases, respectively. The milling stability with variable pitch cutter is analyzed and the result is compared with those predicted with the frequency domain method and the improved full-discretization method. The influence of the runout effect on the stability boundary is investigated by the presented method. The numerical simulation shows that the cutter runout effect increases the stability boundary, and the increasing stability limit is verified by the milling chatter experimental results in the previous research. The numerical and experiment results verify the validity of the proposed method.