Ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting of hard materials: simulation and experimental study

In this paper, orthogonal cutting experiments and a simulation analysis of ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting (UEVC) of hard material were performed by adopting a resonant UEVC actuator. The effects of the cutting regime parameters (ultrasonic elliptical vibration excitation, cutting speed, crossfeed, and depth of cut) on the cutting resistance, chip morphology, and surface integrity during the UEVC process were experimentally investigated. The von Mises stress distribution in the primary deformation zone in one ultrasonic elliptical vibration cycle was used to describe the cutting nature of UEVC. It was also shown through both analysis and experiments that the cutting resistance in UEVC is lower as compared to conventional cutting. At last, the different nature of the chip formation mechanisms in the two processes were also analyzed through a free body force analysis of the chip. The chip shapes from experiments and finite element analysis (FEA) are compared and discussed based on the average equivalent plastic strain in the chip.