Effect of controllable magnetic field-induced MRF solidification on chatter suppression of thin-walled parts

Aiming at solving the chattering problem of thin-walled parts, magnetorheological fluid (MRF) was used as phase-change clamping material to study the influence of MRF excitation clamping on the modal parameters of thin-walled parts. In this paper, to clamp the cantilever thin-walled parts firmly and stably, a strong and uniform magnetic field was achieved by designing a yoke-type configuration first. Next, to quantify the clamping effect of MRF, its squeeze stress-strain curves were tested and corresponding elastic squeeze parameters in pre-yield stage were applied on the on thin-walled parts. Then, the influence of MRF clamping on the workpiece mode was researched from simulating results and experimental results. After that, to validate the clamping effect of MRF fixture, reasonable cutting parameters on the thin-walled part were chosen according to the milling chatter stability lobes. By comparing surface roughness, surface topography, and chip type, the clamping effect of MRF fixture is validated. The results indicate that MRF flexible fixture can obviously restrain the machining vibration in milling process and contribute to suppress the machining vibration of thin-walled parts.