Experimental investigation of machining characteristics in rotary ultrasonic machining of quartz ceramic

Abstract

Quartz ceramic has been well observed as one of the highly demanded advanced ceramics which is receiving enlarging industrial approbation owing to its excellent and superior properties. However, its fruitful processing with traditional and non-traditional machining methods is still a challenge. The current article has aimed to experimentally investigate the influence of several process variables, namely, spindle speed, feed rate, coolant pressure, and ultrasonic power on machining characteristics of interest, i.e. chipping size, and material removal rate in rotary ultrasonic machining of quartz ceramic. Response surface methodology has been employed to design the experiments and the variance analysis test has also been performed with a view to observe the significance of considered parameters. Microstructure of machined samples has also been evaluated and analyzed using scanning electron microscope. This analysis has revealed and confirmed the presence of dominating brittle fracture that caused removal of material along with the slighter plastic deformation in rotary ultrasonic machining of quartz ceramic. The soundness and competence of the developed mathematical model have been established with test results. The multi-response optimization of machining responses has also been done by utilizing desirability approach, and at optimized parametric setting, the obtained experimental values for material removal rate and chipping size are, 0.6437 mm3/s and 1.3326 mm, respectively, with the combined desirability index value of 0.949.