ULTRASONIC MACHINING

INTRODUCTION

The prospects of using high frequency sound waves for machining were noted as early as 1927by wood &locmis; the first patents on this subject appeared in 1945,filed by Balamuth. Whilst investigating the ultrasonic grinding of abrasives he found that the surface of a container holding the abrasive suspension disintegrated when the tip of an ultrasonically vibrating transducer was placed close to it. Moreover ,the shape of the cavity so produced accurately reproduced that of the tip of the transducer. Since then, USM has attached great attention& has found its way into industry on a relatively wide scale. 1953-54 had built the first ultrasonic machine tools. By 1960's,ultrasonic machine tools of various types &sizes for a variety of purposes had been seen and some models had begun to come into regular position. Of course ,the USM technique is still far from perfect. It is suited for brittle materials such as ceramics, carbides, glass,stones

In USM,a formed tool having the shape of the cavity to be produced is machined to vibrate against the work piece surface and between the two are placed abrasive particles. Vibration of the tool tip accelerates the abrasive particles ,at very high rates and imparts the forces necessary for the cutting action. The gap between the tool and the work piece is of the order of .02 to .1mm. The abrasive at such a high frequency erodes the work piece and produces the desired shape on it. Vibration of the tool is obtained through the transducer, which works as an ultra sonic generator. The higher the amplitude of vibration , the faster will be cutting action The material removed from the work piece in the form of grains by shear deformation ,brittle fracture of work material by impact, cavitation and chemical reaction. The tool material is also subjected to wear, but proper work-tool combinations can minimize it. For producing vibrations the magnetostriction transducer principle is commonly used. The transducer has solenoids type winding of wire over a stack of nickel laminations and is fed with an A.C. Supply with frequencies upto 25000 c/s. A cone shaped tool holder is used which helps in magnifying the tool tip vibrations.

TOOL MATERIALS & TOOL SIZE

The tool materials employed in USM should have higher wear resistance and fatigue strength. Low carbon steels and stainless steels give superior performance. Too great mass absorbs much of the ultrasonic energy, reducing the effeciency of machining. Long tool causes over stressing of the tool & of the brazed point. Most of the USM tools are less than 25 mm long.
MECHANICS OF USM

The physics of USM is neither complete nor controversial. The reasons of material removal during USM are believed to be 1. the hammering of the free abrasive particles on the work surface by the tool 2. the impact of free abrasive particles on the work surface 3. the errosion due to cavitation 4. the chemical action associated with the fluid used. A number of researchers have tried to develop the theories to predict the charecteristics of USM. The model proposed by M.C. Shaw is generally well accepted and despite its limitations ,explains the material removal process reasonably well. In this model ,the direct impact of the tool on the grains in contact with the work piece is taken into consideration.Also,the assumptions made are that 1. the rate of work material removed is proportional to the volume of the work material per impact 2. the rate of work material removed is proportional to the the number of particles making impact per cycle 3. the rate of work material removed is proportional to the frequency 4. all impacts are identical 5. all abrasives are identical and spherical in shape Thus MRR in USM is given by MRR = 5.9 F (S / H) R 0.5 Y 0.5 where F=frequency of oscillation,HZ H=surface fracture strength,BHN S=static stress of the tool,kg/sq.mm R=mean radius of the grit,mm Y=amplitude of vibration,mm

SURFACE FINISH The surface finish in USM depends on the size of the abrasive particles, work materials,tool amplitude & slurry concentration. With finer sizes of 0.2- 0.8 micrometers can be obtained. However finer size results in low MRR

PROCESS PARAMETERS The important parameters which affect the process are the (1) frequency,

(2) amlitude, (3) static loading(feed force), (4) hardness ratio of the tool and the workpiece, (5) grain size, (6) concentration of abrasive in the slurry. (1) The material removal rate increases linearly with the frequency.In practical also the MRR increases with the frequency(in fig3a)but the actual characteristic is not exactly linear.TheMRR tends to be somewhat lower than the theoretically-predicted value.

(2) when the amlitude of the vibration is increased,TheMRR is expected to increases. (3) Increases in static loading(i.e, the feed force),The MRR tends to increase. However,inpractice,it tends to decrease beyond a certain critical value of the force as the grains start getting crushed. The nature of the MRR with feed (for the various amplitudes)is shown in

fig4a (4) The ratio of the work piece hardness and the tool hardness affects theMRR quite significantly,and the characteristic is as shown in fig4 b. apart from the hardness, the brittleness of the work material plays a very dominant role. The table 1 indicates the relative material removal rate for different work materials,keeping the other parameters the same. Clearly a more brittle material is machined more rapidly. (5) The MRR should rise proportionately with the mean grain diameter d. However,then the diameter becomes too large and approaches the magnitude of the amplitude A, The crushing tendency increases,resulting in a fall in the MRR as shown fig 5 a.

(6) The concentration directly controls the number of grains producing impact per cycle and also the magnitude of each impact,TheMRR is expected to depend on C. The actual variation is shown on fig5 b for B4C and SiC abrasives. This is in a fairly good agreement with theoretical prediction.

The increases in the MRR is quite low after C has crossed 30% . Thus, a further increase in the concentration does not help.Apart from the foregoing process parameters, some physical properties(e,g, viscosity)of the fluid used for the slurry also affect the MRR.Experiments shows that the MRR drops as the viscosity increases.fig6 a Though the MRR is very important consideration for judging the performance of an USM operation, The quality of finish obtained has also to be considered for a proper evaluation.in an USM operation,the surface finish depends mainly on size of the abrasive grain. fig 6 b shows a typical variation of the mean value of the surface unevenness with the mean grain size for both glass and tungsten carbide as the work material. It clear that the surface finish is much more sensitive to the grain size in case of the glass.

ULTRASONIC MACHINING UNITS

The main elements of an ultrasonic machining units are shown in fig 7. the important components of the machine are (1) the acoustic head, (2) the feeding unit, (3) the tool, (4) the abrasive slurry and pump unit, (5) the body with work table. (1) ACOUSTIC HEAD: The acoustic head is perhaps the most important part of the machine. Its function is to produced a vibration in the tool. Its consists of a generator for supplying a high frequency electric current,a transducer to convert this into a mechanical motion in the form of a high frequency vibration,a holder to hold the head, and a concentrator to mechanically amplify the vibration while transmitting it to the tool. Most transducers work on the magnetostrictive principle because of the high efficiency,high reliability in the 15-30 Khz range,low supply voltage,and simple cooling arrangement (2)FEED MECHANISM: The objective of the feed mechanism is to apply the working force during the machining operation. An instrument showing the movement of the tool indicates the depth of machining.The basic types of feed mechanisms are the, (1) counterweight type, (2) spring type, (3) pneumatic and hydraulic type, (4) motor type.

(3)TOOL; The tool is made of a strong,but at the same time ductile metal. Generaly stainless steel and carbon steels are used for making the tools. aluminium and brass tools wear ten and five times faster than the steel tools, respectively. The geometrical features are decided by the process. The diameter of the circumscribed about the tool should not be more than 1.5 to 2 times the diameter

of the end of the concentrator,and tool should be short and rigid as possible. when the tool is made hollow,the internal counter should be parallel to the external one to ensure the uniform wear (4)ABRASIVE SLURRY; The most common abrasive are (1)boron carbide(B4C),(2)silicon carbide(SiC),(3)corundum(Al2O3),(4)diomond,and(5)boron silicarbide (newly discovered and very efficient)whose abrasive power is about 10% more than that of B4C.B4Cis best and most efficient among the rest but it is expensive. SiC is used on glass,germanium,and some ceramics. Corundum is much less efficient and cutting time is about 3-4 time of that with B4C. diamond dust is used only for cutting diamond and rubies. ADVANTAGES Ultrasonic machining has following advantages 1. both conductive and non conductive materials can be machined,and complex three dimensional contours can be machined as quickly as simple ones, 2. the process doesn't produce a heat -affected zone or cause any chemical/electrical alternation on the work surface 3. A shallow ,compressive residual stress generated on the work surface may increase the highcycle fatigue strength of the machined part/8/ 4. the process can be used for the drilling of circular or non- circular holes in very hard materials like stones,carbide, ceramics & exceptionally brittle materials 5. The metal to be machined may be non-conducting of the electricity, such as glass ,ceramic &semi-precious stone /4/ LIMITATIONS USM has following limitations 1. The material removal rate slow down considerably and even stops as penetration depth increases. 2. The slurry may wear the wall of the machined hole as it passes back towards the surface,which limit the accuracy,particularly for small holes. 3. The abrasive slurry also "machines"the toll itself,thus causing considerable tool wear,which in turn makesit difficult to hold close tolerances /8/ 4. the machining area & depth is restraint in USM /6/

APPLICATIONS USM is particularly suited to: 1. Round holes & holes of many shape for which a tool can be made the moving the workplaces during cutting can increase range of obtainable shapes, 2. Coining operation for materials such as glass,ceramics,etc.

3. USM is particularly useful in micro drilling holes up to 0.1mm. 4. Larger holes can also cut by trepanning. The obtained holes depth is limted by tool wear /2/ 5. Other promising area of application of ultra sonics are welding and plastics,stacking or inserting metal to plastic etc. 6. The use of USM for the manufacturing of EDM electrodes has been claimed to reduce machining time from 20 Hr to 30 min /3/