Holistic modelling of process machine interactions in parallel milling

Parallel milling allows to increase the manufacturing capacity in industry due to a higher cutting productivity. The latter is often negatively influenced by dynamical instabilities of the parallel milling process entailing a reduced profitability. In this paper a holistic model of interactions between a double spindle machine and a parallel milling process is presented that enables an identification of the dynamic compliance of parallel milling machines and a simulation of their stability behaviour. With that an investigation of stability optimization means is possible. A significant improvement of the process stability and, thus, the effective cutting productivity was observed in the parallel milling processes, optimized with help of the holistic model. (C) 2011 CIRP.