Actuator saturation during active vibration control of milling

Machining chatter is a common problem in the manufacturing industry that can lead to reduced productivity, poor surface quality, and accelerated tool wear. Various methods have been proposed to suppress chatter, including passive, active, and hybrid techniques. Active control methods, in particular, have gained increasing attention due to their potential for achieving higher suppression effectiveness and adaptability to different machining conditions. However, one of the main challenges of active control is the occurrence of actuator saturation, which happens when the actuator reaches its maximum output and cannot provide any further control action. This can lead to instability and deterioration of suppression performance. Despite its significance, the issue of actuator saturation in machining chatter suppression has not received much attention in the literature. Therefore, this paper aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed investigation of the effects of actuator saturation on the performance of active control methods for chatter suppression. The paper presents a comprehensive review of existing literature on machining chatter suppression methods, with a specific focus on active control techniques and their associated problems, such as saturation. An experimental scenario is presented that illustrates the problem of actuator saturation in the context of robotically assisted milling. The paper then proposes a novel actuator saturation model in the frequency domain that can significantly inform the selection of cutting parameters, potentially enhancing material removal rates and operational productivity. By addressing this research problem, this paper aims to make a significant contribution to the field of machining chatter suppression and stimulate further research in this direction.