Study of milling force variation in ultrasonic vibration-assisted end milling

ABSTRACT

Ultrasonic vibration cutting has been proved to be an effective cutting technology for its excellent cutting performance and has been widely applied in turning and drilling process. However, this kind of technology is rarely tried in milling process. In cutting process, cutting force is an important process parameter, which affects surface finish and tool wear. This paper investigates the milling force variation in ultrasonic vibration-assisted end milling process through a series of slot-milling experiments. The main research contents include two parts, one is the effect of the externally excited vibration on milling force in milling process, and the other is the influence of milling and vibrating parameters matching on milling force value. Experimental results show that ultrasonic vibration can change traditional milling conditions, realize separate-type milling, obtain similar pulse-like profiles of cutting forces, reduce average cutting force value; and the peak value of the feed direction cutting force can also be greatly decreased by adopting reasonable vibration amplitude, an optimal combination of machining parameters is of great benefit to achieving small cutting force. According to the experimental findings, ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling is a prospective technology to achieve precision milling of small part.

KEYWORDS:

• Cutting force
• milling
• ultrasonic
• vibration

Additional information

Funding

Project supported by the National Science Fund of China (NSFC), No. 51405251 and No. 51475275; and Excellent Middle-Aged and Youth Scientist Award Foundation of Shandong Province, No.BS2014ZZ015.