Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Tuned Mass Damper on Mode Coupling Chatter in Turning Process of Thin-Walled Cylindrical Workpiece

In recent years, the rigidity of a thin-walled cylindrical workpiece such as a jet engine turbine case decreases to reduce the weight of an aircraft. As a result, chatter vibration is more likely to occur during the turning process of the workpiece. The chatter vibration causes the reduction of machining accuracy, wear of tools, noise, and so on. Chatter vibration is classified into forced chatter vibration and self-excited chatter vibration. Self-excited chatter occurs by regenerative effect and mode coupling [1–3]. While the various approaches have been proposed to suppress regenerative chatter [4], there is little research on the countermeasure against mode coupling chatter. One of the effective countermeasures against regenerative chatter is the application of the tuned mass damper (hereafter referred to as TMD) [5, 6]. Using the TMD can increase the critical width of cut at the onset of regenerative chatter. However, there are few studies which investigate the design method of TMDs to suppress mode coupling chatter in a turning process of the thin-walled cylindrical workpiece effectively. In the present work, the effect of the TMDs attached to the rotating thin-walled cylindrical workpiece on mode coupling chatter generated in a turning process is experimentally investigated. The natural frequency and the mounting position of TMDs are determined according to the natural frequency of the workpiece and the workpiece vibration mode during mode coupling chatter generation. The present study shows three 1.5% mass ratio TMDs can totally control mode coupling chatter.