Chatter suppression based on nonlinear vibration characteristic of electrorheological fluids

Self-excited chatter is a serious problem in machining shops and its frequency is always near the resonant frequency of the machining system. This paper proposes a novel design method for a tunable-stiffness boring bar containing an electrorheological (ER) fluid to suppress chatter in boring. The ER fluid undergoes a phase change when subjected to an external electrical field and serves as a complex spring behaving nonlinearly in the structure. The deformation modes of the ER fluid are dependent on the applied electric field and the strain amplitude. As a result, the global stiffness and energy dissipation properties of the boring bar under an electric field change drastically at different amplitudes of vibration. It is found that the amplitude of chatter can be prevented from increasing by using the nonlinear vibration characteristic of the ER fluid. It is shown experimentally that the chatter can be suppressed under a certain range of the electric field related to the cutting conditions.