Z-map based surface machining accuracy in high speed peripheral milling of flexibile system

Based on the Z-map representation of the workpiece and the dynamic model of peripheral milling operation in which the regenerative effect was taken into consideration, a 3D surface topography of the machined surface along with the dynamic cutting forces were predicted on matlab platform, in which a numerical approach was employeed to slove the differential equations that governing the dynamics of the milling system. According to the stability lobes diagram (SLD) obtained by ZOA (zero order analytical) approach, the impact of the cutting conditions such as feedrate per tooth and the spindle speed was thoroughly inverstigated. It is shown that a large stable depth of cut but a poor surface finish can be obtained at the spindle speeds where the dominant frequency of the milling system is integral multiples of the tooth passing frequency. And a large stable depth of cut and a good surface finish can be obtained near the resonant spindle speeds which can be determined according to predicted SLD. These results which are confirmed experimentally can provide some instructive directions to the manufacturing engineerings in determining the optimal cutting conditions in shop floor applications.