Feed-direction ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling surface texture formation

The formation mechanism of surface texture for feed-direction ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling (UVAM) was investigated in this study by establishing a kinematic model and a pressing model of UVAM. The kinematic model showed that the cutter tip, which was supposed to be totally sharp, produced closed scratches by crossed trajectories. The variation trends of the interval for closed textures were of sine function. A comparative experiment was carried out by UVAM and conventional milling. A dividing line close to the X coordinate divides the surface feature into two parts. The pressing model showed that the tool minor cutting edge left clear traces with certain width because of the tool minor cutting edge angle. Scratches by tool minor cutting edge were intermittent and regularly varied when feed-direction vibration was introduced. All the surface feature changes are in the radial direction and the trajectory intersections shall always be the scratch grooves or ridges. The ratio between ultrasonic vibration frequency and spindle speed, tool radius, and the located cutter rotation angle affected the changing rule of scratches by tool minor cutting edge. The analytical models and the experimental results proved to each other reasonable.