International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240

Programming spindle speed variation for machine tool chatter

suppression
Emad Al-Regib a, Jun Ni a,∗, Soo-Hun Lee b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, The University of Michigan, 1023 H.H. Dow Building, 2300 Hayward Street,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
b
School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea

Received 22 June 2000; received in revised form 15 April 2003; accepted 8 May 2003

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method for programming spindle speed variation for machine tool chatter suppression. This method
is based on varying the spindle speed for minimum energy input by the cutting process. The work done by the cutting force during
sinusoidal spindle speed variation S3V is solved numerically over a wide range of spindle speeds to study the effect of S3V on
stable and unstable systems and to generate charts by which the optimum S3V amplitude ratio can be selected. For on-line application,
a simple criterion for computing the optimal S3V amplitude ratio is presented. Also, a heuristic criterion for selecting the frequency
of the forcing speed signal is developed so that the resulting signal ensures fast stabilization of the machining process. The proposed
criteria are suitable for on-line chatter suppression, since they only require knowledge of the chatter frequency and spindle speed.
The effectiveness of the developed S3V programming method is verified experimentally.
 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Chatter; Precision machining; Spindle speed variation; Stability; Numerical analysis; Vibration control

1. Introduction of these methods in chatter suppression has been verified

One of the most significant factors affecting the per-
formance of machine tools is chatter. Chatter not only
limits productivity of cutting processes but also causes
poor surface finish and reduced dimensional accuracy,
increases the rate of tool wear, results in a noisy work-
place and reduces the life of a machine tool. Chatter can
be avoided by keeping a low depth of cut, however this
leads to low productivity. Over the years, various
methods have been developed to avoid regenerative
chatter without reducing the depth of cut. The basic prin-
ciple of these techniques is to prevent the dynamic of
the machining process from locking on the most favor-
able phase for chatter.
Slavicek [16] and Vanherck [25] proposed the use of
milling cutters with non-uniform tooth pitch and Stone
[20] used end mills with alternating helix. Effectiveness
∗
Corresponding author. Fax: +1-734-936-0363.
E-mail address: junni@umich.edu (J. Ni).
by simulation and experiments [3,6,23]. These tech-
niques can be applied to the design of a non-uniform
pitch cutter for a specific cutting condition, but cannot
be applied to single point machining.
Weck et al. [26] utilized on-line generated stability
lobes to select a spindle speed so that maximizes the
depth-of-cut limit. Later, Smith and Tlusty [17], Delio
et al. [2] and Tarng et al. [22] avoided the need for the
knowledge of the stability lobes and proposed that the
best tooth passing frequency be made equal to the chatter
frequency. This minimizes the phase between the inner
and outer modulations. This approach is adaptive in the
sense that the spindle speed is changed based on feed-
back measurement of the chatter frequency. This method
is practical for high spindle speed machining when the
stability lobes are well separated.
Another technique to suppress regenerative chatter is
sinusoidal spindle speed variation (S3V) around the
mean speed to disturb the regenerative mechanism. Since
this technique was introduced by Stoferle and Grab [19],
there have been many research efforts to verify its effec-

0890-6955/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0890-6955(03)00126-3
1230 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240

tiveness on machining stability by numerical simulation

and experiments in turning [7,8,14,15,21,28] and in mill-
ing [1,8,9]. Despite the above research efforts, this tech-
nique has not been implemented widely in industry
because there is no systematic way to select the proper
amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal forcing signal.
The selection of these parameters depends on the
dynamics of the machining system and is constrained by
the spindle-drive system response and its ability to track
the forcing speed signal. In addition, variable speed
machining can result in an adverse effect and may even
cause chatter in an otherwise stable process [5,10,15,24].
This usually occurs when this method is applied to high Fig. 1. Model for single degree-of-freedom machining system.
speed machining. Recently, Soliman and Ismail [18] pro-
posed using fuzzy logic to select on-line the amplitude
cutting stiffness. The instantaneous uncut chip thickness
and frequency of the forcing speed signal. Yilmaz et al.
h(t) composed of the mean uncut chip thickness ho, the
[27] generalized sinusoidal spindle speed variation tech-
inner modulated cut surface x(t), due to the current tooth
nique by introducing multi-level random spindle speed
pass, and the outer modulated surface x(t⫺t), due to the
variation, where the spindle speed is varied in random
previous tooth pass. Hence, the instantaneous uncut chip
fashion within the maximum amplitude ratio allowed by
thickness can be written as
the spindle-drive.
In this paper, a systematic procedure for designing a h(t) ⫽ h0 ⫹ x(t)⫺m x(t⫺t). (2)
stabilizing spindle speed, by selecting the effective
Here t is the time delay between two consecutive cuts
amplitude and frequency of the forcing speed signal, is
and represents the regenerative feedback effect. It is
developed. The remainder of the paper is summarized
related to the spindle speed, S in (rpm), by
as follows. In Section 2, the theoretical background of
machining process modeling is reviewed. Based on 60
energy analysis, the effect of S3V amplitude ratio on t⫽ , (3)
zS
stability is investigated in Section 3. The work done by
the cutting force during S3V is solved numerically over where z is the number of teeth on the cutter (z = 1 in
a wide range of spindle speed to generate charts by turning). The quantity zS / 60 is the tooth passing fre-
which the optimum S3V amplitude can be selected. Sec- quency in (Hz) and m is the overlapping factor and will
tion 4 develops a simple criterion for computing the opti- be assumed here to be m = 1 for maximum regenerative
mum S3V amplitude ratio, based on the spindle speed effect. The structure dynamics is represented by the ori-
and chatter frequency. Also, a criterion to select the ented transfer function G(s). The regenerative chatter can
minimum effective S3V frequency is proposed. Section be represented by control block diagram as shown in
5 presents experimental verification results. Conclusions Fig. 2 [11].
follow in Section 6. The closed–loop system can be represented by the
second order system:
ẍ(t) ⫹ 2zwnẋ(t) ⫹ w2nx(t) ⫽ Kc b [x(t)⫺x(t⫺t) (4)
2. Theoretical background
⫹ ho]
Machine tool chatter is a self-excited vibration caused
by the interaction of the chip removal process and the
structure of the machine tool. The most important type
of chatter is regenerative chatter, which occurs mainly
when a favorable phase relationship develops between
the inner and outer modulations caused by vibration dur-
ing two consecutive tooth passes.
The conventional model of a single degree of freedom
machining system is shown in Fig. 1. In this model, the
resultant cutting force F(t) is proportional to the instan-
taneous uncut chip thickness h(t) as expressed by:
Fx(t) ⫽ Kc b h(t), (1)
where b is the axial depth of cut and Kc is the static Fig. 2. Block diagram of regenerative chatter loop [13].
 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240
where z is the damping ratio and wn is the natural fre-
quency of the machining system. This model can be used
to study the stability of the machining system under both
constant and variable spindle speeds where the spindle
speed S = S(t) and the time delay t = t(t) are time-vary-
ing functions.
The characteristic equation of the constant speed
machining system can be derived as
1 ⫹ Kc b (1⫺e⫺ts)G(s) ⫽ 0.
Let s = jw, then the above equation can be rewritten as
⫺1 sinwt
⫹j ⫽ Kc b [Real[G]
2 2(1⫺coswt)
⫹ jImag[G]].
The quantity wt is the phase angle f (radians) of the
regenerative wave on the machined surface, where w is
the vibration frequency (rad/sec). From Eq. (3), the
relation between the spindle speed, vibration frequency,
and the phase angle can be expressed:
60w
wt ⫽ f ⫽ . (7)
zS
It is convenient to express this phase angle as an
integer number of waves N plus a fractional portion of
a wave e / 2p such that if there are N + e / 2p vibration
waves during one revolution of the workpiece, where
N = 0, 1, 2,% and 0ⱕe / 2p ⬍ 1, then the relation
between the spindle speed, the vibration frequency, and
the phase angle is:
60 w
⫽ f ⫽ 2p N ⫹ e
zS
Eqs. (6) and (8) can be utilized to generate the stability
lobe diagram in terms of the limiting depth of cut vs.
the spindle speed as shown in Fig. 3. In this figure, each
lobe corresponds to a number N = 0, 1, 2,%, where the
smaller the number, the higher the spindle speed.
The relationship between the fractional phase and
Fig. 3. Typical stability lobe diagram.
1231
stability plays an important role in explaining the stabil-
ization effect of variable speed on machining systems.
This relationship is best described by energy analysis.
In the next section, this relationship will be investigated
quantitatively to study the relation between the variable
spindle speed signal and stability.
3. Energy-based stability analysis of variable speed
(5)
machining
It has been shown that varying the spindle speed using
(6) sinusoidal function is the most feasible profile to sup-
press chatter since it is more convenient for the spindle-
drive system to track and easier for CNC realization
[10]. Typical sinusoidal spindle speed signal has the fol-
lowing form:
S(t) ⫽ Sm[1 ⫹ asin(2p fs t)] (9)
where Sm is the mean spindle speed in (rpm), a is the
amplitude ratio, and fs is the signal frequency in Hz.
The application of variable spindle speed is con-
strained by the spindle-drive system, which has a low
pass filter response to time-varying signals. The fre-
quency of the time-varying signal should be within the
bandwidth of the spindle-drive system, fsⱕwbw / 2p, and
the amplitude ratio is also a function of the spindle-drive
system and usually constrained to values in the range
0 ⬍ a ⬍ aa, where aa is the maximum allowable ampli-
tude ratio.
The effect of varying the spindle speed on stability
can be studied by considering the balance between the
(8) work done by the regenerative cutting force and the
energy absorbed by the machine’s structural damping.
The kinetic energy of the mass and the potential energy
of the system are conservative over the vibration period
and hence, they are not considered. A machining system
is stable as long as the total change in the energy of the
system due to the structural damping ⌬Ud and due to
the work done by the regenerative force ⌬UF being nega-
tive over one cycle of vibration:
⌬Ud ⫹ ⌬UFⱕ0. (10)
Since varying the spindle speed affects the chip thick-
ness, which in turn affects the cutting force, the work
done by the regenerative force will be computed. Here,
for illustration purposes, the traditional one-dimensional
regenerative force model [15,24] will be considered.
Assuming the machining system is vibrating with a fre-
quency w and has a small sinusoidal displacement:
x(t) ⫽ Xcos(w t) (11)
then,
ẋ(t) ⫽ ⫺Xwsin(w t) (12)
and
1232 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240

x(t⫺t) ⫽ Xcos(wt⫺wt). (13) The closed form solution of this equation has been
approximated using Bessel functions [28] to investigate
The validity of this assumption for variable speed mach-
the effect of S3V parameters on stability. Radulescu et
ining has been verified in Zhang [28].
al. [19] solved it numerically to explain qualitatively the
For variable speed machining, the phase angle wt is
robustness of variable speed machining on stability aug-
time-varying [12,28], which is expressed using Eqs. (7)
mentation.
and (9) as:
Here, Eq. (20) will be solved numerically for wide
60 w 60 w range of mean spindle speed by considering the follow-
wt ⫽ ⫽ . (14)
zS(t) zSm[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)] ing relation between the vibration frequency and the
mean spindle speed:
Substituting in Eq. (13):

x(t⫺t) ⫽ Xcos w t⫺ 冉 60w

zSm[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)]
. 冊 (15)
60 w
zSm
⫽ 2p Nm ⫹ em (21)

The work undertaken by the regenerative force over where Nm is the lobe number and em is the fractional
n integer cycles of vibration can be computed from phase associated with the mean spindle speed. Substitut-
the relation: ing in Eq. (20) and rearranging:

⌬UF ⫽ 冕2p n / w

0
⫺F(t) ẋ(t) dt. (16)
⌬UF
KcbX2
⫽ ⫺ (2p)2 fs 冕 2pn / w

0
(22)

Substituting for the regenerative force from Eqs. (1) and

(2) into Eq. (16): 冉
cos w t⫺
2p Nm ⫹ em
[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)] 冊
sin(w t) dt.

⌬UF ⫽ 冕2p n / w

0
⫺Kc b [x(t)⫺x(t⫺t) (17) For constant speed machining, where the amplitude
ratio is a = 0 and the number of cycles is n = 1, Eq.
(22) can be solved analytically [4]:
⫹ h0 ] ẋ(t) dt.
After substituting Eqs. (11), (12), and (15) into Eq. (17) ⌬UF
⫽ ⫺sin em. (23)

冕 冋 冉
2p n / w
KcbX2
⌬UF ⫽ ⫺Kcb Xcos(wt) ⫺ Xcos wt When 0 ⬍ em ⬍ p, the variation in the chip thickness
0

冊 册
leads the tool movement and consequently, the energy
60w introduced to the system in the cycle is smaller than the
⫺ ⫹ h0 [⫺wXsin(w t)]dt
zSm[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)] energy dissipated and the system is stable. When p ⬍
em ⬍ 2p, the variation in the chip thickness lags the tool
and performing part of the integration, the work done movement and consequently, the energy introduced to
by the regenerative force can be found to be: the system in the cycle is larger than the energy dissi-

⌬UF ⫽ ⫺w Kc b X2 冕0
2p n / w
(18)
pated and the system is unstable [9,13,29].
For variable speed machining, Eq. (22) does not have
a closed form solution. The right hand side of the above

冉
cos w t⫺
60w
zSm[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)]
sin(w t) dt 冊 equation can be computed numerically to investigate the
effect of the variable spindle speed signal on the work
done by the regenerative force. Eq. (22) is only a func-
where the number of vibration cycles is expressed by tion of the lobe number Nm, the fractional phase em, and
[12]: the amplitude ratio a:
w
n⫽ . (19) ⌬UF
(2p)2fs ⫽ fun(Nm,em,a) (24)
KcbX2
The average work done by the regenerative force over
one vibratory cycle is computed by dividing Eq. (18) by since varying the variable spindle speed signal’s fre-
the number of cycles (n) from Eq. (19): quency fs has no effect on the computed integration. Eq.
(22) is solved numerically over wide range of Nm, em,
⌬UF ⫽ ⫺ (2p)2 fs Kcb X2 冕 2p n / w

0
(20)
and a to investigate the effect of S3V amplitude ratio on
the stability when S3V is applied to unstable and stable

冉 冊
machining systems especially at high speed machining.
60w In addition, the optimum S3V amplitude ratio, which
cos w t⫺ sin(w t) dt.
zSm[1 ⫹ asin(2pfst)] minimizes the work undertaken by the regenerative cut-
 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240
ting force in Eq. (22) is computed numerically and tabu-
lated in charts as function of Nm and em.
3.1. S3V effect on stable system
In order to investigate the effect of S3V amplitude
ratio on the stability when S3V is applied to a stable
system, the work done by the regenerative force is com-
puted for the amplitude ratio in the range 0 ⬍ a ⬍
0.4, using a wide range of Nm while keeping the frac-
tional phase in the stable range 0ⱕemⱕp. Here, the
maximum allowable amplitude ratio is assumed, aa =
0.4 for illustration purposes. In Fig. 4, the results are
plotted for mean spindle speeds with Nm = 0, 1,%, 10
and fractional phase of em = p / 2. This fractional phase
corresponds to applying S3V to the most stable case
when the regenerative force under constant speed (a =
0) results in maximum energy dissipation. This figure
shows that applying S3V to a stable system causes the
regenerative force to dissipate less energy compared to
the constant speed case and even deliver energy under
Fig. 4. Effect of S3V amplitude on the work done by the regenerative
force when S3V is applied to a stable system.
1233
certain amplitude ratios. For example, in Fig. 4 if S3V
with amplitude ratio a5 is applied to the case where
Nm = 5 and em = p / 2, the regenerative work delivers
maximum energy compared to applying S3V with other
amplitude ratios in the allowable range 0 ⬍ a ⬍ 0.4.
However, when S3V with amplitude ratio b5 is applied,
the regenerative force dissipates energy. This offers an
explanation for the adverse effect of variable speed
machining on stability [5,10,15,24]. Similar results are
obtained for other Nm and other values of the fractional
phase in the range 0ⱕemⱕp. The above analysis shows
that it is not advantageous to apply S3V to stable system.
3.2. S3V effect on unstable system
The work done by the regenerative force when S3V
is applied to an unstable machining system is computed
numerically from Eq. (22). In this case, the fractional
phase for the unstable machining system under constant
spindle speed is in the range p ⬍ em ⬍ 2p. When S3V
is applied, the plot of the resulting work done vs. the
amplitude ratio has a damped harmonic form. In Fig. 5,
Fig. 5. Effect of S3V amplitude on the work done by the regenerative
force when S3V is applied to an unstable system.
1234 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240

the work done by the regenerative force is plotted for

mean spindle speeds with Nm = 0, 1,%, 10 and fractional
phase of em = 3p / 2. This fractional phase corresponds
to the maximum energy delivered by the regenerative
force to the system under constant speed, i.e. for ampli-
tude ratio a = 0. Fig. 5 shows that applying S3V to an
unstable system always reduces the work done by the
regenerative force compared to the constant speed case
and consequently S3V enhances the stability of the sys-
tem. However, some amplitude ratios are more effective
than others. For example, in Fig. 5 if S3V with amplitude
ratio a5 is applied to the case where Nm = 5, the regener-
ative work dissipates maximum energy compared to
applying S3V with other amplitude ratios in the allow-
able range of 0 ⬍ a ⬍ 0.4. However, when S3V with
amplitude ratio b5 is applied, the regenerative force Fig. 6. Chart for selecting optimal S3V amplitude ratio for known
delivers energy. The figure also shows that there is only Nm and em.
a single optimal amplitude ratio that results in maximum
energy dissipation by the regenerative force. In Fig. 5,
the points (a2, a3, a4, a5) correspond to the optimal which can be practical for on-line chatter suppression.
amplitude ratios for the five cases under consideration. In the next section, a simple criterion to compute the
Also, it can be noticed from the figure that the higher optimum S3V amplitude ratio will be presented.
the nominal speed (the smaller Nm) the larger the ampli-
tude ratio required for the work to start dissipating
energy. For example, for Nm = 0,1, there is no optimal 4. Programming spindle speed variation
amplitude ratio in this allowable range 0 ⬍ a ⬍ 0.4.
This explains why S3V is less effective in stabilizing 4.1. Criterion for computing the optimal S3V
machining systems with low dominant frequency at high amplitude
spindle speed than it is at lower speeds [14,17]. This is
because at such high spindle speeds, applying S3V with The energy-based analysis in the previous section sug-
amplitude ratio in the range of 0 ⬍ a ⬍ 0.4 always gests that the optimum S3V amplitude ratio which mini-
causes the regenerative force to deliver energy to the mizes the work done by the cutting force is a function
system. However, this energy is less than the one deliv- of the lobe number Nm and the fractional phase em,
ered under constant speed machining. whose relation to the mean spindle speed and chatter
frequency, wc = 2p fc, is described by em + 2p Nm =
60 wc / zSm. The optimum S3V amplitude ratio in Fig. 6
3.3. Optimal S3V amplitude ratio
can be approximated with the following relation:
In Fig. 6, the optimal S3V amplitude ratios are tabu- em
aopt ⬇ . (26)
lated for a wide range of mean spindle speeds (Nm= 2p Nm
2,%, 8 and p ⬍ em ⬍ 2p) by minimizing the work done
This is a simple relation for computing the optimum S3V
by the cutting force in Eq. (22) with respect to the ampli-
amplitude ratio on-line since it requires only the knowl-
tude ratio a:
edge of the spindle speed and chatter frequency.

∂ 冉 冊
⌬UF
KcbX 2
⫽ 0 and
∂2 冉 冊
⌬UF
KcbX2
⬎ 0. (25)
It has been shown in Section 3.2 that the optimum S3V
amplitude ratio at high spindle speed machining (small
Nm) is very high and may be beyond the range allowed
∂a ∂ a2 by the spindle-drive system response. Consider the
This figure can be used to select the optimal S3V ampli- maximum spindle speed corresponding to the optimum
tude ratio whenever chatter frequency is available by S3V amplitude ratio computed from Eq. (26):
computing the lobe number Nm and the fractional phase 60 wc
em from Eq. (21) and then selecting the corresponding SMax |opt ⫽ . (27)
2p z Nm
optimal amplitude ratio from Fig. 6.
The above analysis shows that selecting the proper A closer look at Eq. (27), shows that changing the
S3V amplitude is crucial when S3V is applied to suppress spindle speed to the maximum speed is equivalent to
chatter in machining. This motivates the development of the spindle speed selection method [17,22], where the
a criterion for selecting the proper S3V amplitude ratio, stabilizing spindle speed is selected without variation so
 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240 1235

that the ratio between the chatter frequency and the
spindle speed in (rad/sec) (tooth passing frequency in
milling) is an integer. Hence, when the optimal ampli-
tude ratio computed using Eq. (26) is higher than the
allowable range for the spindle-drive system, the spindle
speed selection method can be applied instead of the
S3V.
4.2. Criterion for selecting S3V frequency
Although, S3V frequency is not as critical as the
amplitude ratio [8,12], researchers showed by simulation
and experiments that the effectiveness of S3V cannot be
realized unless the S3V frequency is increased beyond a
minimum value [7,8,14,15]. Also, selecting S3V fre-
quency is constrained by the spindle-drive? system.
Hence, a criterion for selecting the minimum effective
S3V frequency is required to determine whether such
minimum value exceeds the bandwidth of the spindle-
drive system.
Since the S3V frequency determines how fast the
energy is dissipated from the machining system when
variable spindle speed is applied, the proposed criterion
can be stated as follows. The work done by the regener-
ative force should start dissipating energy from the sys-
tem within at most one rotation of the spindle (one tooth
pass in milling) after applying the spindle speed vari-
ation. This means that if the variable spindle speed after
60
one tooth pass (at time t = ) is denoted by Sf, then
zSm
the corresponding fractional phase denoted by ef and
defined by the relation
60 wc
ef ⫹ 2pNm ⫽
z Sf
should reach the value ef = p (i.e. leaving the unstable
region p ⬍ em ⬍ 2p) within one spindle rotation after
applying the S3V. The spindle speed at time (t = 60 / z
Sm) is expressed by:
5. Experimental results
5.1. Application to turning process
This section analyzes the effects of S3V on chatter
suppression in turning process of a cylindrical work-
piece. Experiments were carried out on a Novamat N
50-1 horizontal CNC lathe with no tailstock. The cutting
conditions are shown in Table 1.
A LabView software module and an I/O board are
used to generate the S3V signal. The signal is then sent
through the spindle speed override to the CNC, which
controls the AC motor driving the lathe spindle through
belt and gear group transmission. The input speed com-
mand, actual spindle speed signal from the tachometer,
and the acceleration signal from a PCB W353B15 (10
mV/g sensitivity) accelerometer placed on top of the tur-
ret were first passed through a PCB signal conditioner
and recorded during the experiments.
In order to determine the allowable range for the para-
meters of the sinusoidal signal, the spindle-drive sys-
tem’s response to sinusoidal signal has been determined
experimentally. The bandwidth of the spindle-drive sys-
tem is found to be 1 Hz. This is the maximum allowable
frequency for the variable spindle speed signal. It is also
found that the maximum allowable amplitude ratio is
0.25.
5.1.1. S3V effect on stable system
In this section, an experimental case is presented
where the S3V can have an adverse effect on machining.
S3V with different amplitude ratios is applied at spindle
speed Sm = 600 rpm and depth of cut, b = 2 mm to a
(28) stable process. Fig. 7 shows the acceleration signal for
the stable process under constant speed and the acceler-
ation signals when S3V is applied with amplitude ratios
a = {0.05, 0.10, 0.20} and S3V frequency fs = 0.5 Hz.
The experimental results reveal how the vibration ampli-
tude increases with increasing the S3V amplitude ratio.

冉 冊
In Fig. 8, the maximum power in the spectra correspond-
60 60 wc ing to the signals in Fig. 7 is plotted with respect to
S(t) ⫽ S ⫽ Sf ⫽ . (29)
z Sm (p ⫹ 2pNm) z the S3V amplitude ratios. Fig. 9 depicts the workpiece
topography along with the Ra values of the surface
From the sinusoidal spindle speed function S(t), another
roughness for the constant speed cutting and S3V case
relation can be obtained for Sf:
with a = 0.20. The figure shows that the surface finish
S(t) ⫽ S 冉 冊
60
z Sm 冋
⫽ Sf ⫽ Sm 1 ⫹ asin 2p fs 冉
60
z Sm 冊册 (30)
Table 1
where fs is the S3V frequency to be computed. Eqs. (29) Cutting conditions
and (30) can be solved simultaneously for the S3V fre-
quency: Workpiece material Carbon steel 1018

冉 冊
Workpiece dimensions Length, 180 mm; diameter, 35 mm
z Sm 60 wc 1 Cutting insert TP 100 coated Carboloy SNMA 644
fs ⫽ sin⫺1 ⫺ . (31) Insert dimensions 3 / 4⬙ × 3 /4⬙ × 1 /4⬙ with 1 / 16⬙nose radius
120 p a z Sm(p ⫹ 2pNm) a Tool holder Carboloy MSDNN85-6, neutral shank
with 45o side cutting edge angle
For on-line application, this equation is computed using Feed-rate 60 mm/rev
the optimal amplitude ratio obtained from Eq. (26).
1236 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240
Fig. 7. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on a stable process.
Fig. 8. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on the spectrum of a stable
process.
for the S3V case with a = 0.20 is worse than the one
for the constant speed case.
5.1.2. S3V amplitude ratio effect on unstable system
To study the effect of S3V on unstable system exper-
imentally, S3V with different amplitude ratios is applied
at spindle speed Sm = 600 rpm and depth of cut, b = 5
mm where the process is unstable under constant speed
cutting. Fig. 10a shows the acceleration signal for the
Fig. 9. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on the surface finish of a stable
process.
Fig. 10. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on an unstable process.
unstable process under constant speed. The chatter fre-
quency is fc = 229 Hz, which corresponds to Nm = 22
and em = 2p∗0.9. The optimal S3V amplitude ratio com-
puted from Eq. (26) is aopt = 0.04.
Fig. 10 depicts the acceleration signals when S3V is
applied with amplitude ratios a = {0.02, 0.04, 0.10,
0.20, 0.25} and S3V frequency, fs = 1.0 Hz. The experi-
mental results illustrate how the vibration amplitude
decreases after increasing the S3V amplitude ratio to
aopt = 0.04 and beyond. Comparing the signal for aopt
= 0.04 with the signals for higher S3V amplitude ratio,
 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240 1237

the figure shows that the acceleration signal for S3V

with aopt = 0.04 does not have transients with relatively
high vibration amplitude. Fig. 11 shows the workpiece
topography along with the Ra values of the surface
roughness for the constant speed case, S3V with aopt =
0.04, and S3V with a = 0.20, respectively. The surface
finishes are better for the cases with S3V cutting than
the one for constant speed, and the surface finish corre-
sponding to aopt = 0.04 has better quality than the one
for S3V with a = 0.20.
The maximum power in the spectra corresponding to
the signals in Fig. 10 are plotted with respect to the S3V
amplitude ratios in Fig. 12a. In this figure, the power
in the spectrum drops sharply after increasing the S3V
amplitude ratio to aopt = 0.04 and beyond. Also, the fig-
ure shows that the spectrum corresponding for S3V with
aopt = 0.04 has the minimum power.
Experiments are also conducted to investigate the
effect of S3V amplitude ratio on the power spectrum
when cutting with higher spindle speeds where the lobe
number, Nm, is lower. Fig. 12b depicts the maximum
power in the spectra with respect to the S3V amplitude
ratios for spindle speed Sm = 1060 rpm and depth of cut
b = 4 mm, where the process is unstable under constant
speed cutting. The chatter frequency in this case is fc
= 242 Hz, which corresponds to Nm = 13 and em =
2p∗0.7. The optimal S3V amplitude ratio can be com-
puted from Eq. (26), aopt = 0.054. Fig. 12c shows the
experimental results for spindle speed Sm = 1300 rpm
and depth of cut b = 4. The chatter frequency in this
case is fc = 234.5 Hz, which corresponds to Nm = 10
and em = 2p∗0.82. The optimal S3V amplitude ratio
computed from Eq. (26) is aopt = 0.082. In all cases in
Fig. 12, the S3V cutting with the optimal amplitude ratio
has the minimum power in the spectrum compared to
the other cuttings.
Fig. 12. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on the spectrum when S3V is
3
5.1.3. S V frequency effect applied to an unstable process (a)Sm = 600 rpm and b = 5 mm; (b)
Sm = 1060 rpm and b = 4 mm; (c)Sm = 1300 rpm and b = 4 mm.
To study the effect of S3V frequency on unstable sys-
tem experimentally, S3V with different frequency is
applied at spindle speed Sm = 600 rpm and depth of cut, the unstable process under constant speed. The chatter
b = 5 mm, where the process is unstable under constant frequency is fc = 229 Hz, which corresponds to Nm =
speed cutting. Fig. 13a shows the acceleration signal for 22 and em = 2p∗0.9.
Fig. 13 depicts the acceleration signals when S3V is
applied with frequency fs = {0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00} Hz
and S3V amplitude ratio, aopt = 0.04, which is the opti-
mal amplitude ratio computed from Eq. (26). When this
ratio is used to compute the minimum effective S3V fre-
quency from Eq. (31), it results in fs = 0.72. The experi-
mental results illustrate how the vibration amplitude
decreases with increasing the S3V frequency until fs =
0.75 where after this value, the reduction in the vibration
amplitude is insignificant. Fig. 14 shows the workpiece
Fig. 11. Effect of S3V amplitude ratio on the surface finish of an topography along with Ra values of the surface rough-
unstable process. ness for the constant speed case, S3V with fs = 0.25 Hz,
and S3V with fs = 0.75 Hz, respectively. Although, the
1238 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240
Fig. 13. Effect of S3V frequency on an unstable process.
Fig. 14. Effect of S3V frequency on the surface finish of an unstable
process.
surface finishes are better for the cases with S3V cutting
than the one for constant speed, the surface finish corre-
sponding to fs = 0.75 Hz has better quality than the one
for S3V with fs = 0.25 Hz. The maximum power in the
spectra corresponding to the signals in Fig. 13 is plotted
with respect to the S3V frequency in Fig. 15a. In this
figure, the power in the spectrum decreases with increas-
ing the S3V frequency until fs = 0.75 Hz where after this
value, the power level almost stays the same.
5.1.4. Example: Application of S3V programming on
chatter suppression
In this experiment, the proposed method to program
S3V, by selecting the optimal effective amplitude ratio
and effective frequency, is applied to suppress chatter in
turning process of a cylindrical workpiece. The mean
spindle speed is Sm = 1050 rpm and the depth of cut is
Fig. 15. Effect of S3V frequency on the spectrum of an unstable pro-
cess.
b = 5 mm. Under constant speed cutting, chatter
develops with frequency,fc = 250 Hz. When chatter is
fully developed, S3V is applied with optimum amplitude
ratio, aopt = 0.05 and frequency fs = 0.9 Hz, which are
computed from Eqs. (26) and (31), respectively.
Fig. 16a shows the acceleration signal during both
constant and variable speed cutting. The actual spindle
speed signal from the tachometer is depicted in Fig. 16b.
The spectra of the acceleration signals, before and after
applying S3V, are shown in Fig. 16c. Fig. 16d depicts
the surface finish of the workpiece, during constant
speed and S3V cuttings, along with the corresponding
surface roughness, Ra values. These figures reveal clear
comparisons between the acceleration signal amplitude
level together with the surface finish in the case of con-
stant speed cutting and S3V cutting regions.
5.2. Application to boring process
The criteria developed in this paper to program S3V
are verified by comparing the results obtained from Eqs.
(26) and (31) with experimental results from design of
experiment approach conducted by an industrial partner
to set the effective S3V amplitude ratio and frequency
to suppress chatter in a boring process. The cutting con-
ditions are shown in Table 2.
In this process, constant speed results in unstable cut-
ting with a high-pitched sound and chatter marks are
clearly visible on the machined surface. The chatter fre-
quency of 200 Hz is clearly seen in the spectrum. The
spindle-drive system’s response to sinusoidal signal is
determined experimentally. The bandwidth of the
spindle-drive system is found to be 2.3 Hz and the
maximum allowable amplitude ratio is 0.30.
In the dsign of experiment, S3V is applied with a range
of S3V amplitude ratios, a = {0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.20,
 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240 1239

cessful in suppressing the chatter while all other combi-

nations resulted in minor improvement. In Fig. 17a–c,
the input spindle speed, the accelerometer signal and its
power spectrum are shown for constant cutting and the
S3V case (with amplitude ratio of a兩exp = 0.05 and fre-
quency fs兩exp = 0.5 Hz). The intensity in the power spec-
trum for S3V cutting is smaller than the one for the con-
stant spindle speed. The surface finish of the workpiece
is shown in Fig. 17d for both the constant spindle speed
and S3V cases where the effect of S3V can be visualized
more clearly.
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
criteria in predicting the effective amplitude and fre-
quency, Eqs. (26) and (31) are computed for chatter fre-
quency fc = 200 Hz and mean spindle speed Sm = 673
rpm to give aopt = 0.049 and fs = 0.69 Hz, respectively.
These results are in close agreement with the parameters
found by the design of experiment procedure.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, a systematic procedure for programming

spindle speed variation signal’s amplitude and frequency

Fig. 16. Application of S3V programming on chatter suppression in

turning process.

Table 2
Cutting conditions

Workpiece material Carbon steel 4040

Workpiece dimensions Length, 100 mm; inner diameter,
115 mm; outer diameter, 135 mm
Spindle speed 673 rpm
Feed-rate 300 mm/min
Depth of cut 2 mm

0.25, 0.30}, and frequencies, fs = {0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0}.

That is, 24 combinations of amplitude and frequency are
applied consuming 24 workpieces. Out of the 24 combi- Fig. 17. Application of S3V programming on chatter suppression in
nations, the combination of S3V amplitude ratio a兩exp boring process.
= 0.05 and frequency fs兩exp = 0.5 Hz was the most suc-
1240 E. Al-Regib et al. / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 43 (2003) 1229–1240
is developed. The criteria for selecting the S3V ampli-
tude ratio give results close to the optimum amplitude
ratio computed numerically from minimizing the work
done by the machining force. At high spindle speed
machining, the optimum S3V amplitude ratio is very
high and beyond the allowable range by available
spindle-drive systems. Hence, applying another tech-
nique, such as the spindle speed selection method [17],
is more feasible. The proposed criterion for selecting the
S3V frequency is based on how fast the regenerative
energy is dissipated from the machining system. The
proposed criteria are suitable for on-line S3V program-
ming since the only requirement is knowledge of the
chatter frequency and the spindle speed. The effective-
ness of the developed method is verified experimentally.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the partial financial support
from NSF grant EEC-9526519 and the NSF-I/UCR
Center for Dimensional Measurement and Control in
Manufacturing at the University of Michigan. E. Al-
Regib acknowledges the financial support by King Fai-
sal Foundation.
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