Utilization of heat quantity to model thermal errors of machine tool spindle

Thermal error modeling of the spindle plays an important role in predicting thermal deformation and improving machining precision. Even though the modeling method using temperature as the input variable is widely applied, it is less effective due to severe loss of thermal information and pseudo-hysteresis between temperature and thermal deformation. This paper presents a novel modeling method considering heat quantity as the input variable with theoretical analysis and experimental validation. Firstly, the change of thermal state of a metal part being heated is discussed to reveal the essence of the relationship between heat, thermal deformation and temperature, and the theoretical basis of the modeling method proposed in this paper is elaborated. Subsequently, the relationship between thermal deformation and heat quantity is further studied through modeling the thermal deformations of stretching bar and bending beam using heat quantity as the independent variable, and the stretching model is verified based on finite element method. Then, the thermal error models of the spindle are developed with the heat elastic mechanics theory and the lumped heat capacity method. In succession, the parameter identification of thermal error models is carried out experimentally using the least square method. The average fitting accuracy of these models is up to 91.3%, which verifies the good accuracy and robustness of the models. In addition, these models are of good prediction capability. The proposed modeling method deepens the research of thermal errors and will help to promote the application of relevant research results in the actual production. © 2018, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.