Comparative analysis of chatter in micro end milling operations

Abstract The advancement in microfabrication in pursuit of miniaturization is cutting a dynamic role for micro-milling. Micro-milling is a fast and cost-efficient threedimensional fabrication method with the ability to achieve good accuracy, low surface roughness and extraordinary material removal rate (MRR) compared to some other micro manufacturing processes. Given the need for components with high dimensional integrity, identification of appropriate machining conditions is very vital to getting good surface finish. It is also required to couple different complex dynamics which are associated with this machining technique. Chatter during milling and micro-milling process bring adverse effects in surface quality, dimensional accuracy and in tool life. There is need for versatile modelling of micro end-milling dynamics in order to understand how chatter affects the micro end milling operation and to advance the synthetic application of several chatter stability parameters to overcome the limitation imposed by the single chatter stability criterion. This study performs a linear and non-linear analysis of chatter in micro end milling based on the major influential parameters. In addition, a detailed time domain simulation for micro end milling was performed to predict the force a displacement resulting from variable cutter geometries. This dynamic simulation results have significant impact on the actual micro milling process towards the manufacturing of miniaturized parts.