Experimental validation of the amplitude ratio as a metric for milling stability identification

This paper presents the experimental validation of the amplitude ratio, a metric for milling stability identification. The amplitude ratio quantifies the severity of chatter by comparing the amplitude of the expected frequency content of a milling signal (i.e., tooth passing frequency, runout frequency, and harmonics) to the amplitude of the chatter frequency, if present. Through multiple iterations of a milling time domain simulation, the amplitude ratio diagram, which characterizes stable and unstable milling behavior over a range of spindle speeds and axial depths of cut, may be generated. In this paper, a comparison of the simulated and measured amplitude ratios for a series of milling test cuts is presented. It is shown that the amplitude ratio is suitable for identifying milling stability in both simulations and experiments. Additionally, it is shown that through judicious selection of low-cost sensors, implementation of the amplitude ratio is cost efficient. Direct comparison of the simulated and measured amplitude ratios demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach.