Investigation of robotic milling chatter stability prediction under different cutter orientations by an updated full-discretization method

•An updated robotic milling chatter stability prediction method was proposed.•The proposed stability prediction method converges faster than other methods.•A robotic milling dynamic model including multifactor coupling effects was proposed.•The stability of robotic milling under different cutter orientations was investigated.•The influence factors of robotic milling chatter stability were revealed.•The results provide theoretical basis for robotic milling chatter stability analysis. Chatter can easily occur during robotic milling owing to the low rigidity of serial robots. Chatter affects the quality of the workpiece surface and damages the robot equipment, which is a bottleneck that hinders the application of robotic milling. An effective way to ensure milling stability is to rationally select the cutting parameters using high-precision stability lobe diagrams (SLDs). In this study, an updated full-discretization chatter stability prediction method based on the fourth-order Hermite and third-order Newton interpolation polynomial was proposed. A dynamical model of robotic milling was established by considering the regenerative effect, cutter structure modal coupling effect, and the influence of cutter orientations. Based on the established robotic milling dynamic model and the proposed full-discretization method, SLDs related to the axial depth of cut, spindle speed, lead angle, and tilt angle were generated. The dominant influencing factors of the robotic milling chatter stability under different robot postures and cutter orientations were analysed. The robotic milling experiment results show that the dynamic characteristics of the robot are different in each direction. When the milling cutter feeding direction is parallel to the x-axis direction of the global coordinate system, the regenerative effect is dominant. When the feed direction of the milling cutter is parallel to the y-axis of the global coordinate system, the cutter structure modal coupling effect is more obvious. This is possibly because the dynamic characteristics of the tool tip change during the milling process under different robot postures. However, the milling process becomes more stable with an increase in the lead or tilt angle. This is mainly because when the cutting depth is constant, the cutter–workpiece engagement area gradually decreases with an increase in the tool angle.