Ultrasonic application in drilling

Mainly in the manufacture of deep holes, there frequently occur problems in terms of chip formation and chip removal, burr formation at the cutter exit, tool stress, as well as process reliability. These phenomena lead to thinking about making use of hybrid processes for cutting operations in order to intentionally alter the material characteristics in the chip formation area or the working mechanisms of processes by overlapping additional energies. However, the application of this technology demands development and utilisation of process-specific ultrasound converters inducing oscillation in the kilohertz range. Decreased cutting forces and an enhanced chip breaking can be observed as positive effects in drilling overlapped with ultrasound. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.