From a practical point of view, in machining applications, chatter vibration constitutes a major problem during the cutting process. It is becoming increasingly difficult to suppress chatter during cutting at high speeds. Many investigators have regarded chatter vibrations as a “natural” phenomenon during the cutting process and a part of the process itself. In classical machining operations with thick-walled workpieces chatter vibrations occur when the cutting depth exceeds stability limits dependent on the machine tool. On the other hand, in the case of thin-walled cylindrical workpieces, chatter vibration problems are not so simple to formulate. The main purpose of this study is to qualify the dynamic behavior of a thin-walled workpiece during the turning process. It contains two parts: the cutting process simulation and the definition of experimental stability criteria. In the first part, a numerical model, which simulates the turning process of thin-walled cylindrical workpieces, is proposed. This model also permits obtaining workpiece responses to excitation generated by cutting forces. Finally, the stability of the process is discussed.

Chatter vibrations in the cutting process have a central place in many machining applications. A numerical and theoretical approach of self-excited vibrations during the turning process of thin-walled hollow workpieces has been presented in the accompanying paper. Furthermore, a finite element model has been proposed to simulate the dynamics of the system. The response to a Dirac excitation, presented as Nyquist curves, is proposed in order to characterize the dynamics of the turning process and the stability criterion. In this the second part of two related papers, the main objective is to validate the simulated dynamic behavior by using the experimental approach. The results of machining tests performed on thin-walled tubes with steel and aluminum alloys, using different operating conditions (dimensions, geometry and setting conditions) are presented and discussed.

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The development of the manufacturing-based industries is principally due to the improvement of various machining operations. Experimental studies are important in researches, and their results are also considered useful by the manufacturing industries with their aim to increase quality and productivity. Turning is one of the principal machining processes, and it has been studied since the 20th century in order to prevent machining problems. Chatter or self-excited vibrations represent an important problem and generate the most negative effects on the machined workpiece. To study this cutting process problem, various models were developed to predict stable and unstable cutting conditions. Stability analysis using lobes diagrams became useful to classify stable and unstable conditions. The purpose of this study is to analyze a turning process stability using an analytical model, with three degrees of freedoms, supported and validated with experimental tests results during roughing operations conducted on AU4G1 thin-walled tubular workpieces. The effects of the tubular workpiece thickness, the feed rate and the tool rake angle on the machining process stability will be presented. In addition, the effect of an additional structural damping, mounted inside the tubular workpiece, on the machining process stability will be also studied. It is found that the machining stability process is affected by the tubular workpiece thickness, the feed rate and the tool rake angle. The additional structural damping increases the stability of the machining process and reduces considerably the workpiece vibrations amplitudes. The experimental results highlight that the dynamic behavior of turning process is governed by large radial deformations of the thin-walled workpieces. The influence of this behavior on the stability of the machining process is assumed to be preponderant.