Experimental Study on Ultrasonic Assisted Turning of GH4068 Superalloy

GH4068 superalloy is a new type of nickel-based superalloy in the aerospace field. It is an important alloy material for the manufacture of aircraft tubular components and aero-engine hot-end components. These components need to be machined with good surface quality to meet their use requirements. New hybrid machining processes can improve the quality of surface finish compared to conventional machines. In this paper, ultrasonic assisted turning (UAT) technology was applied to the machining of GH4068 superalloy. The experimental system of UAT was established. Experiments of UAT and conventional turning (CT) of GH4068 superalloy were carried out to study the effects of cutting speed, feed speed, cutting depth and vibration amplitude on cutting force and surface roughness. The surface morphology of the workpiece and chip were observed. The experimental results show that F_x and F_y can be reduced by a maximum of 44% and 63%, respectively, and the surface roughness can be reduced by a maximum of 31% after adding ultrasonic vibration. Compared with CT, the UAT has a better machining quality, a more obvious chip-breaking effect, and a smaller chip bending radius, which guides the high-quality processing of the GH4068 superalloy.

Building of Longitudinal Ultrasonic Assisted Turning System and Its Cutting Simulation Study on Bulk Metallic Glass

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) is a new kind of material which is made by rapid condensation of alloy. With excellent properties like high strength, high hardness, corrosion resistance, BMG is increasingly applied in mold manufacturing, weapon equipment and other fields. However, BMG is also one of hard-to-machine materials, which is arduous to be processed precisely and efficiently by the means of conventional cutting. Compared with conventional cutting, ultrasonic machining has a multitude of technological advantages such as reducing the cutting force, extending the tool life, etc. In ultrasonic machining, the ultrasonic electric signal is transformed into high frequency mechanical vibration on the tool, which changes the relationship between the tool and the workpiece in the process of machining. In this study, the longitudinal ultrasonic assisted turning (LUAT) system is established for processing BMG. Its resonant frequency and vibration characteristics are first simulated by modal analysis and harmonic response analysis, and then tested by displacement testing experiments, so that the suitable frequency and the amplitude for BMG turning can be selected and verified. On this basis, the two-dimensional turning finite element model is established to study the effect of ultrasonic vibration on cutting force under different cutting speeds. The research manifest that during the BMG turning, the assistance of longitudinal ultrasonic vibration can significantly reduce the average cutting force as well as the von Mises stress when the turning speed is below the critical turning speed. In addition, the tip of the tool contacts the workpiece discontinuously during cutting process which makes the instantaneous turning force in LUAT more periodic than that in conventional turning (CT).