Disintegration of the Material in Ultrasonic Machining

Abstract

Experiments using high-speed motion pictures have shown that the tool executes essentially harmonic vibratory motion. As the tool tip is brought in the vicinity of the machined surface, eventually one of the abrasive grains is squeezed between them. This grain becomes embedded in both surfaces as the tool moves closer. The embedding of the abrasive particle in the tool material merely produces plastic deformation. The embedding of the abrasive particle into the surface of a machined brittle material causes a pocket to be chipped out. The surface of a material of this type is disintegrated at once, whereas a metal surface requires several cycles to disintegrate, so that the disintegration produced by the tool in one cycle is less in this case. If conditions are created such that the metal surface becomes continually more brittle, for example by anodic solution [32], the machining speed is greatly enhanced for the metal.