Effects of high-pressure coolant on cutting performance of high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting titanium alloy

Abstract

As a novel machining process, high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting (HUVC) has been successfully applied for high-speed machining of titanium alloys recently. To sufficiently exploit its cutting advantage over conventional cutting (CC), advanced cooling method should be employed in HUVC. In this research, high-pressure coolant (HPC) was firstly introduced to HUVC process and its influences on cutting performance of HUVC titanium alloy were studied, including tool life and wear mechanism, surface quality, cutting temperature and cutting force. The results showed that when cutting speed is 400 m/min, the tool life in HUVC can reach 7.3 times of that in CC if HPC of 200 bar was applied. Besides, the machined surface quality in a successive cutting process in HUVC was significantly improved by applying HPC. In addition, the temperature in HUVC can be reduced for 55 % at 300 m/min compared to CC. Furthermore, the analysis of wear mechanism showed that HUVC with HPC can successfully suppress the occurrence of adhesion wear.