Application of electrorheological fluids for the dynamic performance enhancement of machine tool table systems (trial manufacture of a table system and performance evaluation by means of cutting tests)

Rolling-guided table systems are widely used for machine tools because of their low frictional resistance. They have, however, some demerits such as low damping ability, which causes chatter vibrations in machining. An effective method to improve the dynamic performance of the rolling-guided table systems is to apply an additional damping force to the tables. In this study, a variable damper using an electrorheological fluid has been proposed and attached to a rolling-guided table system. The apparent viscosity of the electrorheological fluid can be adjusted depending on the applied electric field intensity. Therefore, the additional damping force generated by the developed damper can be easily controlled by an electric signal. The performance of the developed table system was evaluated by means of the impulse force response method and cutting tests, and the effect of the variable damper was investigated.