Influence of the material removal mechanisms on hole integrity in ultrasonic machining of structural ceramics

Micro-chipping via micro-cracks, due to rapid mechanical indentations by abrasive grits, is the fundamental mechanism of material removal during ultrasonic machining (USM) of hard-brittle materials like ceramics and glass. This study aims mainly to investigate the adverse effects of this inherent removal phenomena on the hole integrity such as entrance chipping, wall roughness and subsurface damage. It also presents the material removal mechanism happens in the gap between the tool periphery and the hole wall (called 'lateral gap'). To do so, experiments were conducted for drilling holes on three advanced structural ceramics, namely, silicon carbide, zirconia, and alumina. Earlier published basic studies on the initiation of different crack modes and their growth characteristics are employed to explain the experimental findings in this USM study. It is realized that the radial and the lateral cracks formed due to adjacent abrasives, which are under the tool face, extends towards radial direction of the hole resulting in entrance chipping. Additionally, the angle penetration and the rolling actions of the abrasives, which are at the periphery of the tool, contribute to the entrance chipping. Later on, in the 'lateral gap', the sliding (or abrasion) and the rolling mechanisms by the larger abrasives take part to material removal. However, they unfavorably produce micro-cracks in the radial direction resulting in surface and subsurface damages, which are ultimately responsible for higher wall-surface roughness. Since the size of micro-cracks in brittle materials is grit size dependent according to the earlier studied physics, it is realized that such nature of the hole integrity during USM can only be minimized by employing smaller grit size, but cannot fully be eliminated. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.