Rotary ultrasonic machining of optical K9 glass using compressed air as coolant: A feasibility study

Abstract

Optical K9 glass has been used in a variety of applications, including optics, electronics, thermodynamics, and fluidics. It has been regarded as a difficult-to-cut material because of its superior mechanical properties. Rotary ultrasonic machining using cutting fluid has been used successfully to machine many different types of brittle materials, such as ceramics, sapphire, and optical K9 glass. Dry machining has been successfully employed in the machining of some materials. However, there are no reported investigations on the rotary ultrasonic machining of optical K9 glass using compressed air as a coolant. This article, for the first time, investigates the rotary ultrasonic machining of optical K9 glass using compressed air as a coolant. The experimental investigations focus on the effects of the input variables (ultrasonic power, spindle speed, and feedrate) on the output variables (edge chipping size, cutting force, surface roughness, and ultrasonic power consumption).

Intermittent and Continuous Rotary Ultrasonic Machining of K9 Glass: An Experimental Investigation

“…K9 glass has been used as a representative functional material in many applications, such as optics, electronics, thermodynamics, fluidics, and so on [2]. K9 glass is regarded as a difficult-to-machine material due to its mechanical properties, such as high hardness, high strength, and low fracture toughness [3]. Other material properties that give K9 glass a broad application include its low density, high thermal resistance, and good resistance to corrosion and wear.…”

“…Matsumura et al reported the use of abrasive water jet to make grooves of 20-100 µm wide on glass [6]. Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) has also been applied to K9 glass machining [3,[7][8][9]. Paragraphs that follow will give more details to introduce the RUM process and the state-of-the-art of its application to K9 glass machining.…”

“…RUM also provides 6-10 times higher material removal rate (MRR) than conventional grinding with a relatively low cutting force, which helps to achieve high tool life, high machining accuracy, low machining temperature, and low surface roughness [7,11,12]. (RUM) has also been applied to K9 glass machining [3,[7][8][9]. Paragraphs that follow will give more details to introduce the RUM process and the state-of-the-art of its application to K9 glass machining.…”

“…RUM also provides 6-10 times higher material removal rate (MRR) than conventional grinding with a relatively low cutting force, which helps to achieve high tool life, high machining accuracy, low machining temperature, and low surface roughness [7,11,12]. Zhang et al did a feasibility study on RUM of K9 glass [3]. They revealed that RUM can drill holes on K9 glass with compressed air as coolant [3].…”

“…Zhang et al did a feasibility study on RUM of K9 glass [3]. They revealed that RUM can drill holes on K9 glass with compressed air as coolant [3]. Zhang et al also investigated rotary ultrasonic face milling of K9 glass and studied its material removal mechanism [13].…”