ULTRASONIC MACHINING

Definition:
Ultrasonic Machining is a non-traditional process, in which abrasives contained in a
slurry are driven against the work by a tool oscillating at low amplitude (25-100
microns) and high frequency (15-30 kHz).

Process:
Ultrasonic machining is a mechanical type non-traditional machining process. It is
employed to machine hard and brittle materials (both electrically conductive and non
conductive material) having hardness usually greater than 40 HRC. The process was
first developed in 1950s and was originally used for finishing EDM surfaces.

In ultrasonic machining, tool of desired shape vibrates at ultrasonic frequency ( 19 to

25 kHz. ) with an amplitude of 15-50 Microns over work piece. Generally tool is
pressed down with a feed force F. Between the tool and work, machining zone is
flooded with hard abrasive particles generally in the form of water based slurry. As
the tool vibrates over the work piece, abrasive particles acts as indenter and indent
both work and tool material . Abrasive particles , as they indent , the work material
would remove the material from both tool and work piece. In Ultrasonic machining
material removal is due to crack initiation, propagation and brittle fracture of
material. USM is used for machining hard and brittle materials, which are poor
conductors of electricity and thus cannot be processed by Electrochemical machining
( ECM) or Electro discharge machining (EDM).

The tool in USM is made to vibrate with high frequency on to the work surface in the
midst of the flowing slurry. The main reason for using ultrasonic frequency is to
provide better performance. Audible frequencies of required intensities would be
heard as extremely loud sound and would cause fatigue and even permanent
damage to the auditory apparatus.
Equipment:

Ultrasonic Machining consists of :

1. High Power sine wave
generator
2. Magneto-strictive Transducer
3. Tool Holder
4. Tool

High power sine wave generator

This unit converts low frequency (60 Hz) electrical power to high frequency (20kHz)
electrical power.

Transducer
The high frequency electrical signal is transmitted to traducer which converts it into
high frequency low amplitude vibration. Essentially transducer converts electrical
energy to mechanical vibration. There are two types of transducer used
1. Piezo electric transducer
2. Magneto-stricitve transducer.
 Piezo electric transducer: These transducer generate a small electric current
when they are compressed. Also when the electric current is passed though
crystal it expands. When the current is removed , crystal attains its original size
and shape. Such transducers are available up to 900 Watts. Piezo electric crystals
have high conversion efficiency of 95%.

Magneto-strictive transducer: These also changes its length when subjected to

strong magnetic field. These transducer are made of nickel , nickel alloy sheets.
Their conversion efficiency is about 20-30%. Such transducers are available up to
2000 Watts. The maximum change in length can be achieved is about 25
microns.

Tool holder. OR Horn.

The tool holder holds and connects the tool to the transducer. It virtually transmits
the energy and in some cases, amplifies the amplitude of vibration. Material of tool
should have good acoustic properties, high resistance to fatigue cracking. Due
measures should be taken to avoid ultrasonic welding between transducer and tool
holder. Commonly used tool holders are Monel, titanium, stainless steel. Tool holders
are more expensive, demand higher operating cost.
Tool holder can be classified as :

Amplifying Tool Holder Non-Amplifying Tool Holder

They give as much as 6 times Non amplifying tool holders have
increased tool motion. It is achieved circular cross section and give same
by stretching and relaxing the tool amplitude at both ends.
holder material.
MRR = 10 times the non amplifying
tool.
Tool
Tools are made of relatively ductile materials like Brass, Stainless steel or Mild steel
so that Tool wear rate (TWR) can be minimized. The value of ratio of TWR and MRR
depends on kind of abrasive, work material and tool materials.

OPERATIONS OF
ULTRASONIC CUTTING.

As the tool vibrates with a

specific frequency, an abrasive
slurry (usually a mixture of
abrasive grains and water of
definite proportion) is made to
flow through the tool work
interface. The impact force
arising out of 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. Material removal from
the hard and brittle materials
will be the form of sinking, engraving or any other precision shape.
Process parameters
1. Amplitude of vibration ( 15 to 50 microns)
2. Frequency of vibration ( 19 to 25 kHz).
3. Feed force (F) related to tool dimensions
4. Feed pressure
5. Abrasive size
6. Abrasive material
** Al203, SiC, B4C, Boron silicarbide, Diamond.
7. Flow strength of the work material
8. Flow strength of the tool material
9. Contact area of the tool
10. Volume concentration of abrasive in water slurry
11. Tool
a. Material of tool
b. Shape
c. Amplitude of vibration
d. Frequency of vibration
e. Strength developed in tool
12. Work material
a. Material
b. Impact strength
c. Surface fatigue strength

13. Slurry
a. Abrasive – hardness, size, shape and quantity of abrasive flow
b. Liquid – Chemical property, viscosity, flow rate
c. Pressure
d. Density

Process capability

1. Can Machine work piece harder than 40 HRC to 60 HRC like carbides, ceramics,
tungsten glass that cannot be machined by conventional methods

2. Tolerance range 7 micron to 25 microns

3. Holes up to 76 micron have been drilled hole depth upto 51mm have been
achieved easily. Hole depth of 152mm deep is achieved by special flushing
techniques.

4. Aspect ratio 40:1 has been achieved

5. Linear material removal rate -0.025 to 25mm/min

6. Surface finish -0.25 micron to 0.75 micron
7. Non directional surface texture is possible compared to conventional grinding

8. Radial over cut may be as low as 1.5 to 4 times the mean abrasive grain size.
Applications

1. Machining of cavities in electrically non-conductive ceramics

2. Used to machine fragile components in which otherwise the scrap rate is high
3. Used for multistep processing for fabricating silicon nitride (Si3N4) turbine blades
4. Large number of holes of small diameter. 930 holes with 0.32mm has been
reported ( Benedict, 1973) using hypodermic needles
5. Used for machining hard, brittle metallic alloys, semiconductors, glass, ceramics,
carbides etc.
6. Used for machining round, square, irregular shaped holes and surface
impressions.
7. Used in machining of dies for wire drawing, punching and blanking operations
8. USM can perform machining operations like drilling, grinding and milling
operations on all materials which can be treated suitably with abrasives.
9. USM has been used for piercing of dies and for parting off and blanking
operations.
10. USM enables a dentist to drill a hole of any shape on teeth without any pain
11. Ferrites and steel parts , precision mineral stones can be machined using USM
12. USM can be used to cut industrial diamonds
13. USM is used for grinding Quartz, Glass, ceramics
14. Cutting holes with curved or spiral centre lines and cutting threads in glass and
mineral or metallo-ceramics

Advantages

1. It can be used machine hard, brittle, fragile and non conductive material
2. No heat is generated in work, therefore no significant changes in physical
structure of work material
3. Non-metal (because of the poor electrical conductivity) that cannot be machined
by EDM and ECM can very well be machined by USM.
4. It is burr less and distortion less processes.
5. It can be adopted in conjunction with other new technologies like EDM,ECG,ECM.

Disadvantages

1. Low Metal removal rate

2. It is difficult to drill deep holes, as slurry movement is restricted.
3. Tool wear rate is high due to abrasive particles. Tools made from brass, tungsten
carbide, MS or tool steel will wear from the action of abrasive grit with a ratio that
ranges from 1:1 to 200:1
4. USM can be used only when the hardness of work is more than 45 HRC.
Material removal models in USM

Theoretical analysis and experimental results have revealed that USM is a form of
abrasion and material removal in the form of small grains by four mechanisms
1. Throwing of abrasive grains
2. Hammering of abrasive grains
3. Cavitations in the fluid medium arising out of ultrasonic vibration of tool.
4. Chemical erosion due to micro –agitation

Material removal due to throwing and hammering is significant and MR due to

cavitations and chemical erosion can be ignored.

Abrasive particles are assumed to be spherical in shape having diameter dg. Abrasive
particles move under high frequency vibrating tool. There are two possibilities when
the tool hit the particle.

 If the size of the particle is small and gap between the tool and work is large,
then particle will be thrown by tool to hit the work piece.

 If the size of the particle is large and gap between tool and work is small,
then particle is hammered over the work surface.

PROBLEM 1 : Find out the approximate time required to machine a hole of

diameter equal to 6.0 mm in a tungsten carbide plate ( Flow strength of work
material = 6.9 x 10 9 N/m2 ) of thickness equal to one and half times of hole
diameter. The mean abrasive grain size is 0.015mm diameter. The feed force is
equal to 3.5 N. The amplitude of tool oscillations is 25 microns and the frequency is
equal to 25 kHz. The tool material is copper having flow strength= 1.5 x 10 9 N/m2.
The slurry contains one part of abrasives to one part of water. Take the values of
different constant as
K1 = 0.3 , K2 = 1.8x 10-6 ( In SI units) and K3= 0.6 and abrasive slurry density =
3.8 g/cm3. Also calculate the ratio of the volume removed by throwing mechanism to
the volume removed by hammering mechanism.

Data Given:

Diameter of the hole = 6mm = 6 x10 -3 m

Depth of hole = 1.5d = 9 x 10-3 m
Mean abrasive size (dg) = 1.5 x 10-5 m
Feed force (F) = 3.5 N
Amplitude of oscillation = a/2 = 25x10 -6 m
Frequency of oscillation = f = 25000 CPS
Flow strength of work material =  w  6.9x109 N/m 2
Flow strength of tool material =  t  1.5x109 N/m 2
Abrasive grain density  g = 3.8x 103 kg/m3
Flow Strength of work material  w
   4.6
Flow Strength of tool material t
K1 = 0.3 , K2 = 1.8x 10-6 ( In SI units) and K3= 0.6
Solution

Grain Throwing Model:

Let us use equations we have developed for the Grain Throwing model

Penetration in work piece due to throwing is given by

g 
=  50x10 6 x2.5x10 4 x1.5x10 5 
3.8x103
 throwing   a f d g =1.78x10-5 mm
6 w 6x6.9x10 
9
 Volume removed by throwing is given by
throwing 3
MRRThrowing = K1 K2 K3 f
dg

Substituting all the values we have

1.78x10 5 
3

MRRThrowing = 0.3x1.8x10-6x0.6x2.5x104 1.5x102 = 4.97 x10-3 mm3/s

Grain Hammering Model

Penetration in work piece due to hammering is given by

4 Favg a d 4 X3.5x (2 X215X10-6 )x(1.5x105 )
 Hammering  = = 2.192x10-4mm
 w  K2   1 6.9x10  (1.8x10 ) 4.6  1
9 -6

Volume removed by throwing is given by

MRRHammering=K1 K2 K3 f
Hammering 3 -6
= 0.3x1.8x10 x0.6x
2.192x10 4 
3

x2.5x104
dg 1.5x102
= 0.2146 mm3/s

Total MRR = MRR due to throwing action + MRR due to hammering action
= 4.97 x10-3 mm3/s + 0.2146 mm3/s
= 0.21957 mm3/s

 
Volume of the hole to be drilled = x62 x9 = 254.416 mm3
 
 4 
 
Time required to drill a hole = Volume of the hole to be drilled
Volumetric MRR due to both throwing and hammering action

245.416
= = 1158.70 seconds = 19.31 Minutes
0.21957

Ration of the volumetric MRR due to throwing and hammering is given by

MRR Throwing
=
MRR Hammering
0.00497
 0.023
0.214
Thus, it is evident that the material removed by hammering is much more than by
throwing ( approximately 45 times) hence , for approximate calculations, MRR by
throwing can be ignored.

Machining characteristics

Following are the USM process criteria

1. Material removal rate
2. Geometrical accuracy
3. surface finish
4. Out of roundness

Process criteria are generally influenced by the process parameters

The characteristics of above process parameters on process criteria are as follows

1. Effect of amplitude on MRR

Increase in amplitude of vibration
increases MRR. To maximize the
amplitude of vibration concentrator
should operate at resonance
frequency. Under certain
circumstances this limits also the
maximum size of abrasive to be
used.

2. Effect of Frequency on MRR

Frequency has significant effect on MRR.
Frequency used for machining process must
be resonant frequency to obtain the greatest
amplitude at the tool tip and thus achieve the
maximum utilization of the acoustic system.

3. Effect of abrasive grain size

An increase in abrasive grain size results in
higher MRR but poorer surface finish.
Maximum MRR is achieved when abrasive
grain size is comparable with amplitude of
vibration of the tool. Hardness of the
abrasives and method of introducing the
slurry has also effect on MRR.
3. Effect of Applied static load
(Feed force).
MRR increase with the feed force. Maximum
MRR depends on the amplitude of vibrations.
Surface finish is found to be little affected by
the applied static load. Higher loads, contrary
to expections, do not give give a rougher
finish. Surface finish, In fact,improves
because the grains are crushed to small size
with higher loads.

4. Effect of Slurry, Tool and Work Material.

MRR increases with slurry
concentration. Slurry saturation occurs at
30 to 40% abrasive/water mixture.
Material Removal rate drops with
increasing viscosity.
The pressure with which the slurry is
fed into the cutting zone affects MRR . In
some cases MRR can be increased even ten
times by supplying the slurry at increased
pressure.
The shape of the tool affects the
MRR. Narrower rectangular tool gives more
MRR compared to square cross section.
Conical tool gives twice MRR compared to cylindrical tool.
The brittle behavior of material is important in determining the MRR. Brittle
material can be cut at higher rates than ductile materials.

L e n g th o f h o r n