Investigation on surface roughness in rotary ultrasonic side grinding of SiCp/Al composites

SiCp/Al composites are widely used in many fields because of their outstanding mechanical and physical characteristics; however, they are difficult to machine owing to the reinforced particles in the matrix. In this work, the rotary ultrasonic side grinding experiments of SiCp/Al composites reinforced with 45% volume SiC particles were carried out to investigate the effects of the spindle speed, feeding speed, cutting depth and ultrasonic vibration amplitude on the surface roughness. The values of surface roughness have different change regularities with spindle speed and cutting depth in various intervals. The Ra values show a rising trend with increased feed rate and it is in line with the change of Ra in machining of ordinary metal materials. The varying pattern of Ra with the change of vibration amplitude is similar to ultrasonic-assisted grinding of other hard and brittle materials. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2015.