Proposal of novel spindle speed variation profile with constant acceleration rate for improvement of chatter stability

Spindle speed variation (SSV) is one of the effective methods which suppresses regenerative chatter. However, regenerative chatter can grow even if SSV is applied. In the previous work, the chatter growth characteristics in SSV were clarified. The chatter frequency changes proportionally to the varying spindle speed, and it causes the change of the magnitude of the dynamic compliance. Hence, chatter can be suppressed through SSV since the dynamic compliance usually reduces as the chatter frequency changes. A greater compliance reduction can be obtained by a higher rate of spindle speeds in two consecutive revolutions at the same angular position, i.e., acceleration rate. From the investigations in the previous work, limitation of the conventionally utilized SSV profiles is found as follows: the acceleration rate always fluctuates with speed variation and the chatter vibration grows where the acceleration rate is insufficient for suppression, and hence suppressing chatter in all sections of SSV is difficult. In this paper, a new SSV profile with a constant acceleration rate, namely CAR-SSV, is proposed to overcome the limitation of chatter stability improvement by utilizing conventional SSV profiles. The magnitude of the acceleration rate is kept constant to realize the chatter suppression effect throughout the cutting process. Through time-domain simulation and cutting experiments, the chatter stability of CAR-SSV is investigated based on the previously introduced chatter stability evaluation indices. Influence of the parameters of CAR-SSV on the stability is investigated, and an appropriate strategy for setting SSV parameters to achieve higher stability is discussed. In addition, in order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed profile, the stabilities of conventional SSV profiles and CAR-SSV are compared through time-domain simulations and cutting experiments.