T-slot milling is one of the most common milling processes in industry. Despite recent advances in machining technology, productivity of T-slot milling is usually limited due to the process limitations such as high cutting forces and stability. If cutting conditions are not selected properly the process may result in the poor surface finish of the workpiece and the potential damage to the machine tool. Currently, the predication of chatter stability and determination of optimal cutting conditions based on the modeling of T-slot milling process is an effective way to improve the material removal rate（MRR） of a T-slot milling operation. Based on the geometrical model of the T-slot cutter, the dynamic cutting force model was presented in which the average directional cutting force coefficients were obtained by means of numerical approach, and leads to an analytical determination of stability lobes diagram（SLD） on the axial depth of cut. A new kind of SLD on the radial depth of cut was also created to satisfy the special requirement of T-slot milling. Thereafter, a dynamic simulation model of T-slot milling was implemented using Matlab software. In order to verify the effectiveness of the approach, the transfer functions of a typical cutting system in a vertical CNC machining center were measured in both feed and normal directions by an instrumented hammer and accelerators. Dynamic simulations were conducted to obtain the predicated SLD under specified cutting conditions with both the proposed model and CutPro~. Meanwhile, a set of cutting trials were conducted to reveal whether the cutting process under specified cutting conditions is stable or not. Both the simulation comparison and experimental verification demonstrated that the satisfactory coincidence between the simulated, the predicted and the experimental results. The chatter-free T-slot milling with higher MRR can be achieved under the cutting conditions determined according to the SLD simulation.
The hybrid dynamics of multi-rigid-body and multi-flexible-body system becomes the mainstream of multi-body dynamics.Currently there lacks a compact approach to model the hybrid dynamics,especially in modern machine tool application,due to the difficulty of solving the hybrid equations or the limitation of current software when dealing with the hybrid dynamics.The extended transfer matrix method（E-TMM）,which extends elements in three-dimensional space with higher matrixes,is proposed to simplify the modeling process of the hybrid dynamics.The E-TMM modeling approaches of 3 basic elements including 3D vibrant rigid body,joint and flexible body are studied in details.A parallel mill-turn tool spindle head unit driven by dual-linear motors is chosen as a plant to demonstrate the E-TMM modeling process.By using E-TMM,the spindle head unit is simplified as a topological network consisting of the three types of element,i.e.,3D vibrant rigid body,joint and flexible body,including 11 rigid bodies,14 joints and 1 3D-Timoshenko beam.Then the dynamic model of the system can be easily obtained by deducing the element-network by means of state vector transformation.The dynamic characteristics of the spindle head,such as natural frequencies,dynamic flexibility,etc.can be predicted by solving the obtained model.Experiment verification indicates that the E-TMM is valid with enough accuracy in the dynamic analysis of the parallel mill-turn tool spindle head.The E-TMM is capable of modeling the dynamics of machine tool structure with no requirements of deducing and solving the sophisticated differential equations.Moreover,the E-TMM provides a simple and elegant tool for hybrid dynamic analysis in future dynamic design of machine tools.
