Experimental study of tool wear and its effects on cutting process of ultrasonic-assisted milling of Ti6Al4V

Ti6Al4V is usually considered difficult to machine, and therefore, it causes severe tool wear and shortens tool life while being machined during conventional milling, leading to loss of quality and accuracy of the machined parts. In this paper, the experiment of ultrasonic-assisted milling of Ti6Al4V was conducted to study the tool wear mechanism in ultrasonic-assisted milling process and investigate the influence of the wear variable state of tool continuous cutting on the cutting process in ultrasonic-assisted milling and conventional milling. The experimental analysis showed that oxidation wear, adhesive wear, and diffusion wear occurred in ultrasonic-assisted milling; however, longer tool life was achieved when machining under the same conditions as compared to that of conventional milling. On the other hand, the curl angle of chip generated from ultrasonic-assisted milling was smaller than that from conventional milling in the same wear time. In addition, the burr produced by ultrasonic-assisted milling was not obvious, and under the coupling effect of ultrasonic-assisted milling, lower cutting force, improved surface roughness, and lower cutting temperature were obtained as compared to those of conventional milling under the same wear time.