Application of Electrorheological Fluid for the Dynamic Performance Enhancement of Machine Tool Table Systems (Analysis of the Dynamic Characteristics of a Simple Table System)

Rolling guideways have been widely applied to the machine tool tables because of their low friction and high maintainability. Table systems with rolling guideways have, however, some demerits such as low damping ability, which causes the chatter vibrations during machining. In this study, a table system with variable damping mechanism is proposed in order to improve the dynamic characteristics of the table system. The ER (electrorheological) fluid is applied to control the viscous damping force generated by the proposed mechanism. ER fluid is a kind of colloidal suspension, and its apparent viscosity is increased in accordance with applied electric field intensity. The dynamic characteristics of the proposed table system are analyzed by means of the impulse force method, and the effect of ER fluid is investigated.