CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 365–368

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CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology

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Evaluation of dynamic stiffness of machine tool spindle by non-contact

excitation tests
Atsushi Matsubara (2)*, Shota Tsujimoto, Daisuke Kono
Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper presents a non-contact excitation method for evaluating the dynamic stiffness of a rotating
Spindle
spindle. The spindle response to an excitation force is measured, and frequency response functions (FRFs)
Stiffness
are obtained. Based on the measured FRFs, dynamic uncertainty and its effect on cutting stability are
Chatter
investigated. Regenerative forces are generated using displacement feedback with a time lag element,
and a closed-loop excitation test is executed automatically. The stability map obtained from the closed-
loop test and the stability charts calculated from the FRFs are compared, and the uncertainty of the
spindle dynamics during operations is clarified.
ß 2015 CIRP.

1. Introduction
Machine tool spindles must rotate cutting tools precisely and
provide sufficient energy for material removal [1]. For high-
productivity machining, spindles should be designed to have
sufficient stiffness to resist cutting forces. The basic components of
a spindle, such as its rotating shaft, support bearings, and contact
parts, have elasticity, and their contribution to stiffness at the tool
point is complex. State-of-art design methods consider the
nonlinearity of preloaded bearings [2], interface dynamics [3],
and the thermal distribution of the components [4,5]. Measure-
ment methods are important in the evaluation of the designed
stiffness and its achievement in the manufacturing process.
Rantatalo et al. investigated the vibration characteristics of
rotating spindles, including the rotor dynamics, using non-contact
magnetic excitation [6]. Abele et al. investigated the speed
dependency of the natural frequency and damping of a hybrid
spindle using the active magnetic bearing (AMB) component
[7]. Ozturk et al. demonstrated the effect of spindle bearing preload
on dynamic stiffness and chatter stability [8]. Abele and Fiedler
proposed the state-space identification of the frequency response
functions (FRFs) of spindle compliance during milling operations
[9]. Suzuki et al. investigated a different identification method
based on chatter information [10]. Tobias discussed the nonline-
arity of spindle stiffness and its effect on chatter [11]. The Author
investigated the influence of spindle temperature on stiffness
using a non-contact measurement method and a magnet loading
device [12].
The influence of machine dynamics on the occurrence of
vibration has been analyzed using measured and calculated
machine dynamics. Regenerative chatter analysis in the frequency
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: matsubara@prec.kyoto-u.ac.jp (A. Matsubara).
domain has been conducted using FRFs and cutting models [13]. In
general, the analytical predictions are confirmed by the results of
cutting tests. However, cutting processes have various effects, such
as the multiple regenerative effect [14,15], process damping [16],
multiple frequencies, and multiple delay [17]. These effects make it
difficult to isolate the dynamic behavior of the spindle for analysis.
In this research, the uncertainty of the dynamic stiffness of a
rotating spindle was investigated using a non-contact excitation
method. Two excitation tests were combined. One test used a
conventional open-loop excitation, and the other used a closed-
loop excitation. In the closed-loop test, the regenerative force was
generated on the basis of the monitored spindle displacement.
Chatter behavior was investigated in conjunction with the
uncertainty of the FRFs measured in the open-loop test.
2. Measurement system
2.1. Configuration of measurement setup
Fig. 1 shows an overview of the test device used. The device
consists of a magnet loader, a dummy tool (a load target),
measurement sensors, and a personal computer (PC) to control the
process. The loader has coils that generate magnetic forces, which
are controlled by coil currents. In this research, one coil set was
used to emulate the cutting forces of side milling or boring. The coil
current was supplied by an amplifier, to which a current command
was sent from the PC through a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter.
Displacement sensors were installed in the head stock of the
spindle to measure the spindle displacement at the holder. The
displacement signal was filtered using a high-pass filter and
captured by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. This high-pass
filter filters out the machine vibration other than the spindle
vibrations. A tool dynamometer was installed between the
machine table and the magnet loader to measure the attractive
force. The force signal was also captured by the A/D converter. Using

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2015.04.101
0007-8506/ß 2015 CIRP.
366 A. Matsubara et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 365–368
Fig. 1. Configuration of measurement setup.
Fig. 2. Block diagram of excitation system.
this device, the spindle stiffness of a multitasking machine was
measured. The spindle’s key specifications were as follows: the
maximum speed was 12,000 min1, the preload type was constant-
position preload, the front bearing employed angular contact
bearing, the rear bearing employed cylindrical roller bearing, and
the diameter of the front bearing was 60 mm.
2.2. Control block and excitation test
Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of the excitation force
generation. The blocks from ir to df correspond to the analog
components, where ir is the command current sent to the current
amplifier, ic is the coil current of the magnet loader, f is the magnet
force, fh is the measured force, d is the spindle displacement
measured at the toll holder, and df is the filtered displacement. The
transfer functions of the current amplifier, magnet loader, spindle
compliance, high-pass filter, and force measurement are Gamp, Gfi,
Gdf, Ghpf, and Gm, respectively. The cut-off frequency of the high-
pass filter was set at 300 Hz because structural vibrations of the
machine occur at frequencies below this threshold.
The blocks from df to ir are in the digital control system, which
represents the cutting force feedback. To simulate regenerative
vibration, a time lag element with a spindle rotation period T was
inserted in parallel to the feedback loop. In Fig. 2, h0 is the nominal
cut depth, Kf is the specific cutting force, and a is the cut width.
Multiplication of a and Kf yields the cutting stiffness. The term fi
refers to the emulated cutting force, and the term Kft refers to the
transferring gain from force to coil current.
In the open-loop test, the feedback pass was cut, and a swept-
sine signal was given directly to the command current ir. From the
measured ir and df, an FRF was estimated. This FRF is the serial
product of Gamp, Gfi, Gdf, and Ghpf and is referred to as the open-loop
FRF f. The force signal was also measured, and the FRF from fh to df
was estimated to check the open-loop FRF.
In the closed-loop test, T was set to the real rotation period of
the spindle, and aKf was set. The feedback loop was then closed to
check the oscillation. All tests were performed automatically under
spindle rotating conditions.
The relationship between the coil current and magnetic force is
as follows:
f ¼ K i i2c (1)
where Ki is the current force coefficient, which is inversely
proportional the square of the gap distance. A sine wave with an
offset is given to the current as follows:
ic ¼ I0 þ Ia sinðvtÞ (2)
where I0 is the current offset, Ia is the current amplitude, and v is
the excitation frequency. Substituting (2) into (1) and referring to
the fundamental harmonic term, the relationship between the
force and command current can be estimated as follows:
f r ¼ K ft Ia sinðvtÞ ¼ K ft ir (3)
where Kft = 2KiI0. The nominal depth of cut determines the current
offset.
3. Nonlinearity in spindle stiffness
To evaluate nonlinearity in the spindle stiffness, the current
offset I0 and amplitude Ia were changed, and open-loop FRFs
were measured. The spindle speed was set at 3000 min 1 . Using
the measured data, the FRFs from f i to d f (Gdi) and the FRFs from f h
to d f (G df) were estimated. The coherence in each measurement
was over 0.9 except for the vicinity of the natural frequency,
where the minimal coherences are 0.75 for Gdi and 0.45 for
Gdf . This reason is that the vibration components other than
the force-excitation response also increase at the resonance
frequency.
Fig. 3 shows the estimated FRFs for the variable offset and
constant amplitude. The natural frequencies decreased as the
current (force) offset increased, which reflects the soft spring
characteristic in the force–displacement relationship. Gdf
exhibits a sharper change in gain and a greater lag in phase
than Gdi. Note that the force measurement unit has a natural
frequency near 300 Hz, which provides uncertainty to both the
gain and the phase.
Fig. 3. Measured FRFs for variable offset and constant amplitude: Ia = 0.3 A, Gdi is FRF
from fi to df, Gdf is FRF from FRF from fh to df.
Fig. 4 shows the estimated FRFs for the constant offset and
variable amplitude. The change of the natural frequency could be
seen in Gdf where Ia is less than 0.6 A. However, it could not be seen
for larger amplitudes, where the gain decrease could be seen in
Gdi. This indicates that the soft spring effect is weak at this force
offset and the gain in the current–force relationship is decreased
with the increase of the current amplitude.
 A. Matsubara et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 365–368 367

Fig. 5. Measured temperature change.

Fig. 4. Measured FRFs for variable amplitude and constant offset: I0 = 1.5 A, Gdi is FRF
from fi to df, Gdf is FRF from FRF from fh to df.

4. Measurement and evaluation

4.1. Test procedure and results

Spindle stiffness is known to be sensitive to the spindle speed

and spindle temperature. The stability of the closed loop was
evaluated for several combinations of spindle speed and cutting
stiffness aKf. The test procedure is as follows.

(1) Rotation of the spindle was started, and the spindle was
allowed to warm up for 40 min. The rotation speed was set at
3000 min1. Fig. 6. Example measurements from closed-loop test: N = 2900 min1,
(2) After the warm up, FRFs were measured in the open-loop test. aKf = 1.05  105 N/m.
To investigate the dependency of the spindle stiffness on the
speed, three speed levels were considered. I0 and Ia were set at
constant values of 1.5 A and 0.3 A, respectively. C: The vibration increased and decreased alternately.
(3) The stability limit of aKf for each spindle speed N was calculated
from the measured FRF f, using the following relations [18]: An example of pattern B is shown in Fig. 6.
K ft
aK f ¼ (4) 4.2. Comparison of chatter map and estimated lobe charts
2Re½f

60 Im½f The occurrence of chatter in the closed-loop test was examined

vc ¼ 2kp þ 3p  2tan1 (5) using the vibration level. To clarify whether the instability arose
N Re½f
from the current limit or from the spindle damping, the maximum
where vc is the chatter frequency in rad/s, N is the spindle speed in current amplitudes were checked and shown in a vibration map.
min1, and k is the number of vibration waves per revolution, and The stability lobes calculated from the open-loop FRFs were also
Re and Im are the real and imaginary parts, respectively, of the FRF. shown in the map.
(4) Based on the calculated lobes, the spindle speed N and aKfs Figs. 7 and 8 show the vibration levels of the test results and the
were selected for the closed-loop test. In the test case, the stability lobe charts calculated from the open-loop FRFs measured
speed range was set to vary about a target speed of 3000 min1 before and after the closed-loop test, respectively. Three lines were
to cover k = 15 in increments of 25 min1. The closed-loop tests
were conducted with a current offset of 1.5 A.
(5) To check the temperature dependency, open-loop FRFs were
measured at the middle and end of the test. During the entire
test, the temperature was measured with a thermocouple
installed near the outer race of the front bearing.

Fig. 5 shows the temperature and spindle speed over the course
of the test. As this figure shows, the temperature increased
gradually, and the total increase was approximately 2 8C. During
the closed-loop test, several vibration patterns were observed. The
vibrations were analyzed in both the time and frequency domains.
The power spectral densities (PSDs) of the vibrations were
calculated using Fourier transform and short-time Fourier
transform (STFT). The measured vibrations were categorized
according to the following patterns:

A: The vibration amplitude remained at the initial level.

B: The oscillation started and then was sustained at a certain Fig. 7. Vibration map and stability lobes: limit lines are given from FRFs measured
amplitude. before the closed-loop test.
368 A. Matsubara et al. / CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 64 (2015) 365–368
Fig. 8. Vibration map and stability lobes: limit lines are given from FRFs measured
after the closed-loop test.
Fig. 9. Vibration map and stability lobes: limit lines are given from FRFs in Fig. 4.
Fig. 10. Measurement results for closed-loop test: N = 3075 min1,
aKf = 2.40  105 N/m).
calculated from the measured FRFs for the three different spindle
speeds considered. The discontinuities in the lines reflect
measurement error. The marker size corresponds to the maximum
vibration amplitude of the current during the test period. The cross
mark indicates that the current reached the amplifier limit. The
test run at 3075 min1 was repeated, and the results are shown as
the ‘‘second set.’’ As these figures show, the vibration amplitude
increased significantly near the stability limit, as indicated by the
circle radius becoming larger. Beyond the limit, the amplitude
remained constant for a certain range of aKf and then increased and
saturated because of the current limit. Speed dependency of the
stability lobes is illustrated in Fig. 7 but not in Fig. 8. The reason for
this is that the FRF became insensitive to spindle speed as the
spindle temperature increased.
To investigate the nonlinearity discussed in Section 3, stability
lobes were calculated using the FRFs shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 9 shows
the calculated lobes for different current aptitudes. As could be
seen in Fig. 9, the effect of the soft spring characteristic on the
stability is small. The stability zone expands, when the current
amplitude is larger than 0.6 A, which could tell the oscillation
dwell. This comes from the gain decrease in the current–force
relation and the current limit of the amplifier. The calculated lobes
in Figs. 8 and 9 could not explain the stability at a speed of
3075 min1. Fig. 10 shows the measured signals at this speed. The
first oscillation starts at 803 Hz. This oscillation disappears, and the
second oscillation starts at 765 Hz, which makes it difficult to
assess the stability. A similar oscillation pattern is described as
bifurcation in [19].
5. Conclusions
Non-contact excitation tests of a machine tool spindle were
conducted to predict chatter conditions and monitor oscillation
under regenerative force feedback. The uncertainties associated
with spindle stiffness due to speed and vibration amplitude were
assessed quantitatively. In the case of measurement of a constant-
position-preload spindle, the soft spring characteristics was
observed in the open-loop test, but its effect on chatter in the
closed-loop test was found to be small. The speed effect was found
to be influenced by the spindle temperature.
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