The effect of tool vibrations on the flank surface created by peripheral milling

Tool vibrations have a significant influence on the surface quality with respect to surface location error and roughness. Even chatter-free milling processes can produce a high surface location error since chatter-free does not necessarily mean vibration-free. This article describes a geometric model for predicting the surface formation resulting from peripheral milling processes when tool vibrations are present. This model enables one to predict and minimize the roughness and location error of the flank surface. Comparisons between simulations and experiments show the effectiveness of this modeling approach. An important result of this research is that it has shown that milling at a stability maximum does not generally yield the best surface quality.