ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 48 (2008) 16371645

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International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmactool

A new experimental methodology for identication of stability lobes diagram in milling operations
Guillem Quintana, Joaquim Ciurana , Daniel Teixidor
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Civil Construction, Universitat de Girona, Avenue Lluis Santalo s/n, 17071 Girona, Spain

a r t i c l e in fo
Article history: Received 26 June 2008 Received in revised form 10 July 2008 Accepted 12 July 2008 Available online 22 July 2008 Keywords: Milling processes Stability lobes diagram

abstract
Chatter is a self-excited vibration that can occur during machining operations. This undesirable phenomenon is one of the most common limitations when it comes to improving productivity and part quality. For this reason, several methods have been developed with the aim of preventing, avoiding, reducing, suppressing or controlling the occurrence of chatter. A stability lobes diagram (SLD) shows the boundary between chatter-free machining operations and unstable processes, in terms of axial depth of cut as a function of spindle speed. These diagrams are used to select chatter-free combinations of machining parameters. This paper presents an experimental method for identifying SLDs in milling operations. The methodology is based on empirical tests where the workpiece permits a gradual increase of the axial depth of cut in the feed direction, which represents the y coordinate of the SLD while the spindle speed (the x coordinate of the SLD) is increased between passes. This is possible thanks to the inclined plane shape presented by the workpiece. The cutting process is interrupted as soon as chatter is detected and the frontier between stable and unstable cutting, i.e. the stability lobes diagram, is identied. This permits to obtain the SLD physically machined onto the workpiece. The methodology is good for those small and medium enterprises which have no technical knowledge and sophisticated resources, because the SLD can be identied with a microphone and prepared workpiece. At rst, we present the results obtained when chatter is detected by the operator by analyzing the sound emission. Then, in order to eliminate the subjective component of the human hearing intervention, a computer application is presented. It permits to monitor the milling process sound and analyze its amplitudes and frequencies to identify chatter as soon as its occurrence starts. The results provided by the computer application are quite better. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Milling, and especially high-speed milling (HSM), operations are widely used in present day manufacturing to obtain the nal shapes of mechanical parts. Examples of this metal-cutting process can be found in the production of moulds and dies, and in the automotive, aerospace or aeronautical industries, where large amounts of material are removed from large metal structures in procedures that require high productivity and accuracy. Chatter is a self-excited vibration that can occur during machining operations and becomes a common limitation to productivity and part quality. This phenomenon has several negative effects such as poor surface quality, unacceptable

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 972 418 265; fax: +34 972 418 098.

E-mail addresses: guillem.quintana@udg.edu (G. Quintana), quim.ciurana@udg.edu (J. Ciurana), dani.teixidor@udg.edu (D. Teixidor). 0890-6955/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2008.07.006

inaccuracy, excessive noise and tool wear, machine tool damage, reduced material removal rate (MRR), increased costs in terms of time, materials and energy, as well as the environmental impact of dumping non-valid nal parts and having to repeat the manufacturing process. In workshops, machine tool operators often select conservative cutting parameters to avoid chatter. Moreover, in some cases, additional manual operations are required to clean chatter marks left on the part surface. In academic environments, several methodologies have been developed to predict, avoid, reduce, suppress or control the occurrence of chatter and its negative consequences. A great deal of literature has been generated since the late 1950s regarding the chatter problem. However, the initial works carried out by Tobias [1] and Tlusty [2] remain, even now, indispensable references. Very early on, it was demonstrated that during a milling process chatter can arise at certain combinations of axial depth of cut and spindle speed (Fig. 1). As a function of these two cutting parameters, the border between a stable cut (i.e. no chatter) and

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Stability Lobes Diagram 5.00 4.50 Axial depth of cut (mm) 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 Spindle Speed (rpm) 25000 30000

Fig. 1. Example of a stability lobes diagram (SLD) and the stable and unstable cutting conditions.

an unstable one (i.e. with chatter) can be visualized in a chart called stability lobes diagram (SLD). Several studies have been carried out in this eld and several methods have been put forward to obtain the stability boundary that distinguishes chatter-free operations from unstable operations. The rst approaches by Tobias [1,3] and Tlusty [2] identied the regeneration mechanism. Their extensive studies established the basis of the regeneration theory, which has become the most commonly accepted explanation for machine tool chatter. Regeneration is the most powerful source of self-excitation. This effect is associated with the dynamics of the machine tool and the cutting force variation due to subsequent cuts on the same cutting surface. The mathematical models developed to explain these phenomena correspond to delay differential equations (DDEs). Many researchers have attempted to predict the SLD using analytical methods [49]. Altintas and Budak [4] proposed making stability predictions using the zeroth order Fourier term to approximate the cutting force variation. This method, known as zeroth order approximation (ZOA), can achieve reasonably accurate SLD predictions for processes where the cutting force varies relatively little, i.e. considerable radial immersions and large number of teeth. Insperger and Stepan [5,6] presented the semidiscretization (SD) method, which transforms the DDE into a series of autonomous ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with known solutions. Gradisek et al. [7] investigated stability boundaries predicted by ZOA and SD methods. The two methods produce similar predictions for high radial immersions but, as radial immersion decreases, boundary predictions begin to vary considerably. Analytical investigations led to the implementation of the bifurcation methods (i.e. Hopf bifurcation and period doubling or Flip bifurcation) for stability prediction in milling [8,9]. Recent developments in sensors and computers have led to the rise of analyticalexperimental methods and computer simulation analyses. In Manufacturing Automation [10], Altintas explains a widely known analyticalexperimental method based on the use of an impact hammer instrumented with a piezoelectric force transducer. Transfer functions of existing multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems can be identied by structural dynamic tests. In this case, to obtain the transfer function, the structure is excited with an impact hammer and the resulting vibrations are measured with displacement, velocity or acceleration sensors. CUTPRO software simplies the test and offers automatic predictions of the SLD [11]. Another software program called Harmonizer [12] scans the sound of the cutting process with a microphone and chatter is detected if the energy of the measured

sound signal exceeds a certain threshold. Faassen et al. [13] use Harmonizer for the experimental validation of the proposed D-partitioning model, which considers the spindle speed dependencies. Sims et al. [14] describe the use of piezoelectric sensors and actuators to predict milling SLDs. This approach offers more control over the excitation signal than an impact hammer and is more suitable for small tools where it is impossible to accurately strike the tool tip. Abele et al. [15,16] use an active magnetic bearing (AMB) to identify the spindle tool systems frequency response function (FRF). This method allows a non-contact measurement to be made while the spindle is running. There are also many investigators who use nite element analysis (FEA) or the nite element method (FEM) for stability simulation and prediction [1719]. Other methods do not need SLD prediction to seek stable regions between lobes. In some cases (e.g. where there are more than three axes or for thin-walled workpieces) the SLD of the system cutting tool, machine tool and workpiece is continuously changing and it is difcult to make predictions in advance and schedule the correct parameters to ensure stable operations. For such cases, researchers have developed methods consisting of online chatter detection and process interference to avoid the negative effects. Ismail and Ziaei [20] implement an algorithm that combines off-line scheduling of parameters and on-line spindle speed ramping. Faassen et al. [21] present a method to detect chatter online before it has fully developed. Early chatter detection allows operators to interfere in the process, thus avoiding chatter marks on the workpiece surface. Doppenberg et al. [22] use the detection algorithm presented in [21] to suggest a chatter controller that forces the machining process into a region of chatter-free operation by adjusting the spindle speed when the onset of chatter is identied. In contrast to all these methods, which are aimed at avoiding chatter by situating operations in chatter-free regions of the SLD, some researchers have looked at raising the stability boundary. Wang and Lee [23] describe a redesigning procedure for the weakest component of a machine tool structure. First, vibration tests showed that the spindle was the weakest component. Second, the spindle was redesigned to change the dynamic behaviour of the whole machine tool and obtain a higher stability boundary. Passive dampers have been used to increase the damping capacity of a cutting tool system, e.g. inner friction plates [24], impact dampers [25] or mechanical dampers [26]. Some researchers use sensors and actuators [27,28] to actively raise the SLD of a machine tool. Others analyze the use of variable pitch cutters (i.e. with irregular spacing between teeth) [2931] or sinusoidal spindle speed variation (S3V) [32] to disturb the regenerative mechanism. In this paper, a simple experimental method for obtaining and identifying SLDs in milling operations is presented. The method is based on experiments where the workpiece shape permits a gradual increase of the axial depth of cut in the feed direction until chatter arises. The spindle speed is increased between passes in order to obtain combinations of a spindle speed and an axial depth of cut in the stability frontier and describe the SLD. Once the SLD is identied, the workshop operator can select the proper process parameters to perform chatter-free operations. The method, based on empirical tests, is especially suitable for industrial environments where operators are not familiar with large analytical methods. This method also allows to obtain SLD with few resources; then it is focused to help small and medium enterprises.

2. Experimental setup The work of Tonshoff cited by Dornfeld [33] used a workpiece with an inclined plane to illustrate the sensitivity of forced and

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self-excited vibrations to machining conditions. Tonshoff showed that, at a certain depth of cut along the tool path, forced vibrations turn into self-excited vibrations and the milling process becomes unstable (see Fig. 2). Wang and Lee [23] used a workpiece with increasing cutting depth to determine the most inuential machine tool component during chatter. They monitored the vibrations of the working table, workpiece and spindle with vibration sensors and performed several cutting tests to show that with a gradually increased cutting depth a violent vibration appeared suddenly. Analyzing the vibration spectrum and the marks on the workpiece surface, they concluded that this vibration could be considered chatter. Wang and Lee also found that the weakest part of their machine tool structure was the spindle and they carried out a redesigning process to improve the cutting capability of the machine. Fig. 3 shows the proposed procedure in this work. Axial depth of cut increases, thanks to the inclined plane presented by the workpiece. This allows the tool to move along the y coordinate of the SLD. When the cutting tool reaches the stability frontier, chatter occurs suddenly and the machine is stopped. Afterwards, the spindle speed is increased to carry out another pass moving along the SLD x coordinate. The procedure has to be repeated until the SLD is physically machined onto the workpiece. Once the SLD is identied, the machining process can be optimized by seeking regions of stable cutting between lobes. Initially, experiments were carried out rst, by interrupting the cutting process as soon as the operator detected the chatter occurrence by analyzing the sound emission. Afterwards, a computer application was developed to analyze the milling sound on-line and detect the chatter occurrence. This permitted to eliminate subjective component of the methodology based on the operator hearing performance. Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of the followed procedure. Experiments were carried out in a Deckel Maho 64V linear 3 axes vertical machine. The cutting tool used was a GARANT at end mill, 8 mm of diameter, with 2 cutting edges installed in a thermal cone. The workpiece material was aluminium 5083 with a hardness of 7080 HB. Thirty experiments with spindle speed increasing from 1000 to 9700 rpm maintaining a constant feed per tooth of 0.02 mm/tooth were planned. The operation consisted of cutting slots along the Y-axis of the machine tool while increasing the axial depth of cut, thanks to the inclined plane as shown in Fig. 3. No kind of coolant was used.

3. Results 3.1. Operator methodology Maximum Y travel was directly extracted from the machine tool screen when chatter was detected by the operator and the machine tool was stopped. Maximum axial depth of cut can be calculated by applying trigonometric principles since the workpiece inclination is known. The operator had to decide when to stop the machine following his own criterion based on the machining sound. Expert operator can achieve good results applying this methodology as is demonstrated along this work. Fig. 5 shows the workpiece machined. The 30 slots correspond to 30 experiments carried out following the parameters mentioned above. Results obtained are given in Table 1. Spindle speed was increased between passes from 1000 to 9700 rpm, starting on the left-hand side of the gure. Axial depth of cut increased gradually, thanks to the inclined plane machined previously on the workpiece. Fig. 5 also shows the stability frontier schematically drawn tting the experimental results in order to differentiate between the stable zone and the unstable zone of the SLD. Looking at Fig. 7 it is possible to observe that process damping at lower spindle speeds provides stability. This phenomenon occurs due to the short undulations left on the workpiece surface by high-frequency cutting vibrations. Surface waves interfere and rub with the cutting tool ank face damping the cutter vibration.

3.2. Computer application performance Labview application was used to develop a platform that permitted to monitor the metal removal process sound emission. A microphone mounted inside the machine enclosure collected the milling sound with a sampling rate of 25 kHz. The sound collected was printed on-line in the computer screen in a timebased chart. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) was calculated from the time-based audio signal to obtain the frequency-domain spectrum of the milling sound and also printed on-line in the computer screen (Figs. 6 and 7). After some initial experimentation chatter frequencies were identied and the difference between stable and unstable cut could be recognized. As it is

maximum cutting depth workpiece milling slide

vibration amplitude

forced vibration

self-excited vibration maximum cutting depth

cutting depth (slide travel)

Fig. 2. Illustration of forced and self-excited vibration. Source: [33].

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a
f

z x y

200mm

95mm

300mm

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of the experimental procedure where axial depth of cut increases with feed. (a, b) Axial depth of cut increases along the operation until chatter occurs. (c, d) Spindle speed is increased between passes. (f) SLD is physically marked in the workpiece. (g) Workpiece dimensions.

Fig. 4. Schematic representation of the followed procedure.

shown in Fig. 2, the process changes abruptly from a stable stage dominated by forced vibrations to an unstable stage dominated by chatter when a certain depth of cut is exceeded at a certain spindle speed. These principles were used to implement the chatter detector. When the sound of the metal removal operation

exceeded a certain threshold at a certain frequency, the chatter detector turned to red to inform the operator about the chatter occurrence. Thanks to the warning alarm, the milling process can be stopped by the operator and all the negative effects that an unstable cut entails can be avoided.

100mm

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Data concerning teeth number and spindle speed are introduced by operator in the application designed. Tooth period is calculated by the computer application following the equation Ft

O
60

(1)

Figs. 6 and 7 shows the software main screen appearance, where Fig. 6 represents stable cutting operation. The sample is subjected to a milling operation carried out with a cutting tool with two cutting teeth at a spindle speed of 4900 rpm. This means a tooth period of 163.33 Hz, which can be observed in the frequency-domain plot, where an important peak appears at the tooth passing frequency. This milling operation was chatter-free and so the chatter detector remained green coloured. Fig. 7 represents a milling operation carried out with a twoteeth cutting tool and spindle speed of 8200 rpm, which entails a tooth passing frequency of 273.33 Hz with chatter. In this case

chatter occurrence made the chatter detector to turn red. Chatter frequency, as is possible to see in the FFT chart, occurred at a frequency of approximately 2100 Hz. Parameters planned to carry out the tests in areas to design computer application and results obtained for those experiments are given in Table 2. Fig. 8 shows again the workpiece machined to obtain computer application. The 30 slots correspond to the 30 experiments carried out following the parameters presented in Table 2.

3.3. Validation A total of 600 experiments were carried out to obtain the SLD with the same combination of cutting tool, tool holder, machine tool and workpiece material for both cases of experimental process and computer application performance. Spindle speed varied from 1000 to 9700 rpm with increases of 300 rpm. Axial depth of cut varied from 0.25 to 5.00 mm with increases of 0.25 mm. This makes a total of 30 levels of spindle speed and 20 levels of axial depth of cut. Feed per tooth was maintained constant as in the experiments carried out with the inclined plane methodology. Linear feed rate was calculated to keep a feed per tooth of 0.02 mm/tooth. In Fig. 9, the experimental results obtained with the inclined plane methodology applied by the operator and the computer application results are compared with the SLD obtained machining point by point. It is possible to observe that between 4000 and 5000 rpm there is no agreement between the SLD obtained with the inclined plane and the SLD obtained point by point. This inaccuracy may be due to an incorrect decision made by the operator. In the inclined plane methodology operator expertise in chatter identication plays an important role. However, for the rest of the range, verication tests present a quite accurate concordance. Results

Axial depth of cut increase (mm)

Spindle Speed increase (rpm)

Fig. 5. SLD marked on the workpiece surface.

Table 1 Parameters planned and results obtained Exp. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 X (mm) 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 Spindle speed (rpm) 1000 1300 1600 1900 2200 2500 2800 3100 3400 3700 4000 4300 4600 4900 5200 5500 5800 6100 6400 6700 7000 7300 7600 7900 8200 8500 8800 9100 9400 9700 Feed (mm/min) 40 52 64 76 88 100 112 124 136 148 160 172 184 196 208 220 232 244 256 268 280 292 304 316 328 340 352 364 376 388 Max. Y (mm) 200.000 200.000 200.000 200.000 200.000 200.000 200.000 200.000 109.848 85.081 108.779 132.879 181.691 94.703 74.949 57.208 192.231 75.577 28.966 52.390 110.159 62.119 86.807 85.788 35.340 60.543 143.454 65.916 49.603 72.911 Max. depth of cut (mm) 5.000 5.000 5.000 5.000 5.000 5.000 5.000 5.000 2.746 2.127 2.719 3.322 4.542 2.368 1.874 1.430 4.806 1.889 0.724 1.310 2.754 1.553 2.170 2.145 0.884 1.514 3.586 1.648 1.240 1.823

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Fig. 6. Software main screen appearance and performance in a chatter-free milling operation.

Fig. 7. Software main screen appearance and performance in milling operation with chatter.

provided by the computer application are better than the results obtained by the operator. In this case, concordance is accurate along almost the whole spindle speed range. However, it is possible to observe a certain deviation between 4000 and 5000 rpm. Nevertheless, the use of computer application designed in this work permits to reduce the relevance of the operator expertise in the reliability of the SLD obtained.

4. Discussion This methodology is especially appropriate for slotting operations. In cases where tool immersion is o100%, superposition of passes may cause a problem because tool immersion can change near the stability frontier due to the length of the previous pass. The workpiece must be previously prepared by cutting sufciently separated slots into the

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Table 2 Parameters planned and results obtained Exp. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 X (mm) 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 Spindle speed (rpm) 1000 1300 1600 1900 2200 2500 2800 3100 3400 3700 4000 4300 4600 4900 5200 5500 5800 6100 6400 6700 7000 7300 7600 7900 8200 8500 8800 9100 9400 9700 Feed (mm/min) 40 52 64 76 88 100 112 124 136 148 160 172 184 196 208 220 232 244 256 268 280 292 304 316 328 340 352 364 376 388 Max. Y (mm) 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 108,522 82,356 83,220 76,523 70,331 85,923 72,129 53,263 188,789 72,125 19,236 51,850 114,234 59,859 85,998 89,128 20,324 56,856 147,524 64,152 46,235 75,805 Max. depth of cut (mm) 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 2,713 2,059 2,081 1,913 1,758 2,148 1,803 1,332 4,720 1,803 0,481 1,296 2,856 1,496 2,150 2,228 0,508 1,421 3,688 1,604 1,156 1,895

Stability Lobes Diagram

5.00 4.50 4.00 Axial depth of cut (mm) 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 1000 4000 7000 2200 8800 1600 2800 3400 4600 5200 5800 6400 7600 8200 9400

Spindle Speed (rpm)

Fig. 8. SLD marked in the workpiece surface.

workpiece. This permits the cutting tool to be introduced into the slot with the required immersion in one of its walls. The accuracy of the methodology and the workpiece size are inevitably related. Bigger workpieces permit to perform more passes reducing the spindle speed, increases between passes, and

this reduces the lack of information between slots. Therefore, given a certain workpiece shape, the accuracy of the method decreases for big tool diameters, because the number of passes has to be reduced to perform the methodology within a certain spindle speed range.

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Stability Lobes Diagram 5.00 4.50 4.00 Axial Depth of cut (mm) 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Spindle Speed (rpm) 7000 8000 9000 10000

Stable cutting Operator identification

Chatter Computer aplication identificacion

Fig. 9. Validation of the methodologies performance.

When the machine tool or tool to be analyzed works within a range of spindle speeds, then the number of passes using this method can be reduced by planning all the passes within this range. This method can be extrapolated to any combination of milling machine tool, cutting tool, tool holder and workpiece materials. However, the procedure needs to be repeated for each new material or cutting tool. This also occurs in the case of experimental modal analyses such as the impact hammer test. Expertise of the operator in chatter detection is a major factor in the precision of the SLD obtained in the rst method proposed. Nevertheless, this has been improved in the second part, where chatter automatically is detected with the computer application implemented.

Engineering Research Group (GREP) and the interest shown by the ASCAMM Technology Centre. We greatly appreciate their attention, responsibility and dedication. The authors also acknowledge the great advices and guidance given by Professor Luis Norberto Lopez de Lacalle and Francisco Campa from the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao. References
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5. Conclusions Machine tool operators often select conservative cutting parameters to avoid the occurrence of chatter. This can negatively affect the production system decreasing the productivity and the performance of a company. Stability lobe diagrams (SLD) show the boundary between chatter-free machining operations and unstable processes in terms of axial depth of cut as a function of spindle speed. The simple experimental method for SLD identication proposed in this paper provides a practical technique for optimal process planning of depth of cuts and spindle speeds in milling operations. The method allows us to obtain the boundary between stable and unstable processes physically captured on the workpiece. An additional advantage of the method proposed in this work is that SLD can be identied using a microphone, prepared inclined workpiece and labview programme. The methodology was developed to help those small- and medium-sized enterprises for which it is difcult to acquire specic equipment such as impact hammers, piezoelectric transducers, specic software, sensors for chatter detection.

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the generous support given by the workshop staff of our Product, Process and Production

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