By studying the workpiece-edge-coupling (WEC) in five-axis ball-end milling, the contact characteristics between the workpiece and edge curve are analyzed, and the chip model is extracted and simplified. The edge curve involved in the cutting process of each edge are calculated at each time and a new instantaneous numerical chip thickness model is established. Then the milling forces and stability lobe diagram (SLD) are calculated in following cut process with lead and tilt angle. The milling forces and SLD of lead angle at 15° and tilt angle at −15° are verified by comparing with Otzurk model as references, and it is found the SLD of WEC model can reflect the unstable points more properly than that of Otzurk model. Also the vibration in
and
directions show a divergence trend, which proves the high precision for the new algorithm adapted to the stability prediction of five-axis ball-end milling process. In addition, the surface topography is acquired considering lead and tilt angle as well as forced vibration, and the result is consistent with the experiment in the existing literature. It is found that the milling forces, SLD and surface topography show the same variation trend with the increase of lead and tilt angle. Besides, the stability region significantly expands and the surface topography improves by applying positive tilt angle other than the negative. Then, under the conditions of positive lead and tilt angle, increasing lead angle and decreasing tilt angle reduces the milling force, expands the stability region of SLD and improve the surface topography. The optimized tool posture is acquired by the coincident analysis of milling force, SLD and surface topography under different lead and tilt angle.
