Analytical Prediction and Experimental Investigation of Burnishing Force in Rotary Ultrasonic Roller Burnishing Titanium Alloy Ti–6Al–4V

Ultrasonic burnishing is usually applied to make machined surface modification. The acoustic softening effect caused by ultrasonic vibration is beneficial to the machining of difficult-to-cut materials. In the present work, a burnishing force prediction model was proposed for rotary ultrasonic burnishing of titanium alloy Ti–6Al–4V, whose surface had been machined with the face milling process. Firstly, the contact between the burnishing roller and one single milling mark was analyzed with plane strain assumption based on the Boussinesq–Flamant contact problem. Then, the effect of ultrasonic softening on the yield stress of Ti–6Al–4V was investigated. The critical contact width and contact load that the burnishing roller crushed on one single milling mark were examined to confirm the feasibility of the proposed ultrasonic burnishing force prediction model. The experimental verifications were carried out at various ultrasonic powers. The burnishing forces from experiment measurements were consistent with the calculated results from the proposed model. The mean deviations between theoretical and experimental results of the ultrasonic burnishing force were 10.4%, 12.2%, and 15.2%, corresponding to the ultrasonic power at the level of 41 W, 158 W, and 354 W, respectively.