Chatter Suppression and Stability Analysis of Rotary Ultrasonic Milling Titanium Alloy Thin-walled Workpiece

Titanium alloy and its thin-walled structures are widely used in the aerospace field. Aiming at the processing chatter and difficult-to-machine problem of titanium alloy thin-walled workpieces, rotary ultrasonic milling technology (RUM) is employed to restrict machining vibration in this paper. Firstly, the titanium alloy web with low stiffness is equivalent to a mass-spring-damping system with three degrees of freedom for describing its dynamic characteristics. Then, a novel stability analysis method is proposed for RUM thin-walled workpiece (RUM-tww) through defining an ultrasonic function angle. Furthermore, RUM-tww stability lobe diagrams (SLDs) are achieved based on the semi-discrete method (SDM). The simulation results show that the milling stability of titanium alloy webs is improved effectively under the effect of ultrasonic vibration energy. Compared with conventional milling thin-walled workpiece (CM-tww), the stability region of RUM-tww is increased by 80.32% within the spindle speed from 1000r/min to 5000r/min. Finally, milling experiments are carried out to verify the validity and rationality of SLDs via analyzing chatter marks, cutter marks and flatness on the machined surface. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction.

Multi-Response Optimization of Processing Parameters for Micro-Pockets on Alumina Bioceramic Using Rotary Ultrasonic Machining

The machining of ceramic materials is challenging and often impossible to realize with conventional machining tools. In various manufacturing applications, rotary ultrasonic milling (RUM) shows strengths, in particular for the development of high-quality micro-features in ceramic materials. The main variables that influence the performance and price of the product are surface roughness, edge chipping (EC), and material removal rate (MRR) during the processing of ceramics. RUM has been considered in this research for the milling of micro-pockets in bioceramic alumina (Al2O3). Response surface methodology in the context of a central composite design (CCD) is being used to plan the experiments. The impacts of important RUM input parameters concerning cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, frequency, and amplitude have been explored on the surface roughness in terms of arithmetic mean value (Ra), the EC, and the MRR of the machined pockets. The main effect and the interaction effect of the implemented RUM parameters show that by providing a lower feed rate and cutting depth levels and elevated frequency and cutting speed, the Ra and the EC can be minimized. At greater levels of feed rate and cutting depth, higher MRR can be obtained. The influence of RUM input parameters on the surface morphology was also recorded and analyzed using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images. The study of the energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) shows that there is no modification in the alumina bioceramic material. Additionally, a multi-response optimization method has been applied by employing a desirability approach with the core objectives of minimizing the EC and Ra and maximizing the MRR of the milled pockets. The obtained experimental values for Ra, EC, and MRR at an optimized parametric setting were 0.301 µm, 12.45 µm, and 0.873 mm3/min respectively with a combined desirability index value of 0.73.