Variations of instability in a rotating spindle system with various bearings

To drive the speed of spindle faster and faster, especially for micro-via-drilling, the gas bearing–spindle is a must. However, most investigations of the dynamic characteristics of the spindle system are limited to the ball bearing type of spindle. This work examines the dynamic instability of a rotating spindle system with various bearings to elucidate the difference between the ball and gas bearing–spindle systems. A round Euler–Bernoulli beam is used to approximate the spindle. The Hamilton principle is applied to derive the equation of motion for the spindle system, and the multiple scales perturbation method is employed to solve the instability solution of the system. The effects of bearing types and speeds of rotation on the dynamic characteristics and instability of a rotating spindle system are further studied.