Ultrasonic Assisted Turning: A Comparative Study of Surface Integrity

Abstract

The surface integrity of machined sample has detrimental effects on the product’s life. The machining parameters have been found to significantly affect the surface integrity during the turning operation. Surface roughness, residual stresses and microhardness are the most commonly used parameters to study the surface integrity. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to present a comparative analysis of conventional turning (CT) and ultrasonically assisted turning (UAT) processes with plain and textured cutting tools. The effect of ultrasonic power (measured in terms of amplitude) on surface roughness has been studied during UAT process. An increase in the amplitude improved the surface finish of the machined specimen, significantly. The surface residual stresses generated in the machined part during UAT have been compared for plain and self-lubricating cutting inserts using XRD analysis. An attempt has been made to evaluate the residual stresses generated during the process by using commercially available finite element method package, ANSYS. The generation of a large compressive residual stresses during UAT process with self-lubricating cutting inserts signifies better fatigue life of the component. The microhardness measurements are used to demarcate the Machine Affected Zone (MAZ) for UAT and CT process. A comparative analysis between CT and UAT has also been presented in terms of surface integrity to demonstrate better machining regime found in UAT using self-lubricating cutting inserts.