Evaluation of tool steel alloy performance in a milling operation through operational dynamic parameters

Dynamic characteristics of machine tools and cutting tools have gained much attention from researchers and industry as it is one of the major factors limiting productivity due to excessive vibrations such as chatter during the cutting process. Numerous factors have to be taken into consideration when selecting material of the cutter body. This paper presents a comparison between two cutter bodies with the same geometry but made out of different alloys. Pre-hardened steel and conventional tool steel were investigated in order to highlight the advantages of selecting correct material to achieve high performance tools with respect of chatter resistance. The experimental part of this paper consists of impact testing, machining tests and surface integrity measurements. Operational dynamic parameters obtained through auto-regressive moving average model estimates from machining tests under stable and unstable conditions was used to characterise the performance. The findings are in correlation with material damping research and chatter analysis, thus giving a strong coupling to material selection in tool holders for enhanced process stability. The research also shows that operational dynamic properties obtained through indirect measurements is a valuable tool for process stability characterisation.