Milling Bifurcations: A Review of Literature and Experiment

Abstract

This review paper presents a comprehensive analysis of period-n (i.e., motion that repeats every n tooth periods) bifurcations in milling. Although period-n bifurcations in milling were only first reported experimentally in 1998, multiple researchers have since used both simulation and experiment to study their unique behavior in milling. To complement this work, the authors of this paper completed a three year study to answer the fundamental question “Is all chatter bad?”, where time-domain simulation and experiments were combined to: predict and verify the presence of period-2 to period-15 bifurcations; apply subharmonic (periodic) sampling strategies to the automated identification of bifurcation type; establish the sensitivity of bifurcation behavior to the system dynamics, including natural frequency and damping; and predict and verify surface location error (SLE) and surface roughness under both stable and period-2 bifurcation conditions. These results are summarized. To aid in parameter selection that yields period-n behavior, graphical tools including Poincaré maps, bifurcation diagrams, and stability maps are presented.