An investigation into the machining characteristics of titanium using ultrasonic machining

Abstract

This paper presents a review on the problems encountered in machining titanium and application of USM in machining titanium and its alloys. Experiments have been conducted to assess the effect of three factors-tool material, grit size of the abrasive slurry and power rating of ultrasonic machine on machining characteristics of titanium (ASTM Grade I) using full factorial approach for design and analysis of experiments. It has been concluded that all factors have significant effect on Material Removal Rate (MRR), Tool Wear Rate (TWR) and surface roughness of the machined surface. Two-way interactions having significant effect on MRR, TWR and surface roughness have also been identified using Minitab14 software. The levels for each factor that contribute the most to the variation in machining performance of USM of titanium have also been established. It has been concluded that titanium is fairly machinable with USM process. Moreover, the surface finish obtained is better than many of the other non-traditional processes.