Experimental Study on Cutting Force and Surface Integrity of TC4 Titanium Alloy with Longitudinal Ultrasonic-Assisted Milling

Abstract

The ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling process was used to study the difficult-to-machine aerospace material titanium alloy TC4 and explore the milling parameters that fit the processing. Based on the orthogonal experimental method, the changes in cutting force, roughness, and surface morphology under conventional and ultrasonic-assisted milling conditions were studied, and the relationship between various processing parameters and their effects was obtained. The results showed that the cutting force was most affected by the feed per tooth and cutting depth. Adding ultrasonic vibration could change the surface texture and significantly impact roughness. By adding an appropriate amplitude of ultrasonic-assisted milling, the maximum average cutting force can be reduced by more than 20.66%, and the maximum surface roughness can be reduced by 44.23%, making the workpiece surface produce regular “sine/cosine” patterns and improving the surface quality of the workpiece. Compared with conventional milling, the deformation layer of the workpiece slightly increased under ultrasonic-assisted milling. The cutting force and surface roughness of titanium alloy TC4 under ultrasonic-assisted milling were reduced. A reasonable selection of processing parameters can further improve cutting force and other parameters, providing a reference basis for the processing of aerospace materials.

Enhancing the Machining Performance of Nomex Honeycomb Composites Using Rotary Ultrasonic Machining: A Finite Element Analysis Approach

“…Their research highlighted the significant influence of rotational speed and vibration amplitude on several key parameters, such as cutting force, cutting temperature, surface topography and surface residual stresses. Until now, the exploration of the ultrasonic vibration machining of the Nomex honeycomb structure has mainly focused on the field of milling, as confirmed by several studies [15][16][17]. A limited number of researchers have also investigated the application of this technique in grinding and drilling [18][19][20].…”