Ultrasonic machining

4. Ultrasonic Machine
The general view of an ultrasonic machine is given in the figure below. Its main parts are

a) Acoustic head.
b) Tool feed mechanism
c) Abrasive feed system.
d) Generator.

1. Acoustic Head: The main element of an ultrasonic machine is the transducer which is used for converting
electrical energy into mechanical energy in the form of high frequency vibration. There are two types of
transducers working on two different principles: piezoelectric and magnetostrictive. The transducer based on
the magnetostrictive effect is utilized in ultrasonic machining process. These may be made of nickel, iron-
cobalt or iron-aluminum. Nickel finds maximum application because of high strength and good insulating
properties of the nickel oxide film.

A typical magnetostrictive transducer has three major components.

a) Stack
b) Connecting body
c) Horn (or a velocity transformer)

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b) Tool Feed Mechanism: Feeding of the tool is provided for applying a working force between the tool and the
workpiece and for sustaining this force during cutting operation. Gravity feeding mechanism is generally preferred for
its simplicity. In this case, the driving force is the difference between the weight of the head and that of the counter-
weight as shown in Figure below.

The spring load system of feeding as shown in the below Figure can also be provided because of its
compactness and sensitivity arising out of the small number of rubbing surfaces. But, in this case feeding varies as the
penetration of the tool into the work piece.

The feeding mechanism should be designed to enable:

· Slow movement of the tool to prevent jerking or breaking of the tool

· Cutting force to act in the normal as well as rotational directions,
· The tool to come to its initial position after finishing operation.

c) Abrasive Feed System: The abrasive slurry can be supplied by hand in a small machine but for machines of higher
power, a pump (usually centrifugal type) is used to supply the slurry through a nozzle. A good method is to keep the
slurry in a bath in the cutting zone. This ensures a good supply and reduces any tendency of tool to scatter the slurry
when amplitude is large. Another effective method of supplying the slurry to the cutting zone is through a hollow tool
or holes in the work piece.

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d) Generator: The main requirements of a generator are reliability, efficiency, simplicity in design and low cost.
Vacuum tube generators are employed usually. Small generators usually consists of a master oscillator, a buffer
amplifier and an output stage. These have a wide tuning range but low efficiency. The master oscillator is often of the
RC type. The buffer amplifier employs transistors and the output stage employs vacuum tubes. Various half-excited
systems may be used in high power generators.

USM Operation:

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The equipment consists of a power supply, transducer, tool holder, tool and abrasive. Generator acts as a
power supply system and converts low frequency (60Hz) electric power to high frequency power having a frequency
of around 20 KHz. In USM process, ultrasonic waves or vibrations are transformed by means of a magnetostrictive
transducer into mechanical vibrations of small amplitude and high frequency. The magnetostrictive transducer consists
of a stack of nickel laminations that are wound with a coil. When a high frequency current is passed through the coil,
changes in electromagnetic field produce longitudinal strains in the laminations. These strains are transmitted to the
tool holder, thus transducer converts the electric energy in to mechanical energy. The function of a tool holder is to
hold the tool and it transfers the mechanical energy to the tool. A horn (stepped or exponential) is attached to the end
of the transducer for mechanical amplification of the amplitude of vibration of the transducer and a tool of any desired
shape is attached at the free end of the horn to serve the purpose of cutting.

The tool holders are of 2 types, non-amplifying tool holders are cylindrical in shape and do not affect the
amplitude of the tool stroke. The amplifying tool holders have modified cross section as shown in figure and they
amplify the stroke length of the tool. Due to this increase in stroke length, the amplifying tool holders can give faster
material removal rate as much as 10 times as compared to that of non-amplifying type. The tool holder is made up of
titanium alloys, stainless steel etc. The tool is brazed, soldered or fastened mechanically to the tool holder. The most
desired method of attaching the tool to the tool holder is silver brazing. The tool should be made of soft ductile
material i.e. easily machined like copper, brass, mild steel etc. if the tool material is hard it will wear out at a faster
rate. The abrasive used in USM can be aluminum oxide, boron carbide or silicon carbide grains in a slurry which also
carries away the tiny particles from the work piece. The slurry can be made in water which also acts a coolant.

As the tool vibrates with a specific frequency, abrasive slurry (usually a mixture of abrasive grains and water of
definite proportion) is made to flow through the tool-work- piece interface. The impact force arising out of the
vibration of the tool end and the flow of slurry through the work-tool interface actually causes thousands of
microscopic abrasive grains to remove the work material by abrasion.

The ultrasonic vibrations imparted to the fluid medium surrounding the tool have three fold actions as follows:

 To bring about the ultrasonic dispersion effect rapidly in the machining fluid medium between the tool end
and the machining surface of the workpiece.
 To cause violent circulation of the fluid as a result of ultrasonic micro-agitation.
 To cause the cavitation effect in the fluid medium arising out of the ultrasonic vibration of the tool in the fluid
medium.

Effect of Process Parameters

1. Effect of amplitude and frequency of vibration

2. Effect of grain diameter

3. Effect of applied static load

4. Effect of slurry, tool and work material

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1. Effect of amplitude and frequency of vibration:

Miller found that for a given material, cutting rate bears a linear relationship with amplitude. His data, however had
much scatter as shown in above figure. According to Goetze, cutting rate increases linearly with an increase in both
amplitude (a) and frequency (f). and the abrasive/water ratio, the term (R/af) is almost constant.

Above figure shows the results of experiment conducted by Shaw and Goetze predicted a linear relationship when
metal removal rate versus frequency.

Above figure shows Relationship between metal removal rate and hardness ratio of work piece/tool. Rosenberg
observed frequency dependence to be interrelated with work and tool failure characteristics. He found a higher rate of
increase in the removal rate with frequency in brittle materials than in ductile materials.

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Ultrasonic machining

2. Effect of grain diameter:

Goetze claimed that cutting rate increases linearly with grain size, but the findings of Neppiras and Foskett
indicated a non-linear effect of grain diameter on the removal rate. There is a limit to the effect of grain size on
the rate as a very coarse powder may even cause a fall in rate as shown in figure below. The optimum size is
governed by the amplitude of tool vibration.

3. Effect of applied static load:

On the metal removal rate for different sizes of tool, the machining rate reaches a maximum as the static
load on the tool is increased. The point of maxima shift depending upon the amplitude of vibration and the
cross sectional area of the tool. Surface finish is found to be little affected by the applied static load .higher
loads, do not give a rough finish. The grains are crushed to small size with high finish. Effect of applied static
load on the material rate at different amplitude of vibration and different sizes of tool are shown in figure
below.

4. Effect of slurry, tool and work material: Effect of slurry:

It has been found that a rise in cutting rate can be achieved with an increase in slurry concentration. The
pressure with which the slurry is fed into the cutting zone has a remarkable effect on the metal removal rate.
Pentland observed that the metal removal rate in ultrasonic drilling is doubled by improving slurry circulation.
The metal removal rate can be increased even ten times by supplying the slurry at an increasing pressure.

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Above figure shows quantitative relationship between effect of slurry concentration on metal removal rate.

Effect of tool :
The shape of the tool face also affects the cutting rate. A narrow rectangular tool gives a maximum cutting rate
than a tool of the same area with a square cross section. It is also possible to rise the cutting rate by 50% by
replacing a cylindrical tool with a conical cone.

Effect of work material:

Since the cutting forces involved in ultrasonic machining are not large, no mechanical stresses are setup which
could cause warping or other residual deformation. The microstructure of work material is not affected as the
temperature generated at the cutting area is not appreciable. But if the flow of abrasive slurry is impaired , high
heat may develop, which may sometime lead to cracking. In drilling through holes, chipping may occur at the exit
side. A simple way to overcome this is to fasten the work piece to a base with wax.

Applications of USM
· For machining of hard and brittle materials like ceramics, glass, tungsten carbides etc.

· For machining of circular and non-circular holes with straight or curved axes.

· Threading of hard materials through proper tool and work piece motion.

· The process is successfully used to machine silicon, germanium, quartz, tool steel etc.

· Drilling and machining cavities or holes in conductive and non-conductive materials like glass and ceramics
etc.

· Threading of various glass and ceramic materials.

· Hard materials and precious stones such as synthetic ruby for the preparation of jewels for watch and timer
movements are successfully machined by this method.

· Ultrasonic machining is useful in micro-drilling hole upto 0.1mm.

· Enabling a dentist to drill a hole of any shape without creating any pain.

· Casting and welding of metals.

· Measurement of hardness and grain size determination of metals.

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Advantages of USM
· No heat is generated in the work and consequently no changes are introduced in the physical structure of the work
material.

· It is used to machine all brittle material.

· It is a burr less and distortion less process.

· Ability to machine non-conductive materials like glass, ceramics etc.

· Ultrasonic machining is a non-thermal, non-chemical, creates no change in the microstructure, chemical or

physical properties of the workpiece.

· Suitable for hard and brittle workpiece materials.

· By using USM, any intricate shapes can be machined.

Disadvantages of USM
· Low machining rates in comparison to conventional machining methods.

· It is difficult to drill deep holes, as slurry movement is restricted.

· It is difficult to design the correct size and shape of the tool to get exact dimensions on the job.

· Low metal removal rates.

· Depth of holes and cavities produced are small. Usually the depth of hole is limited to 2.5 times the diameter of the
tool.

· Tool wear is more.

· Not suitable for soft work piece materials.

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