International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

Development of a high-precision piezoelectric ultrasonic milling tool using

longitudinal-bending hybrid transducer
Pengfei Du a, La Han b, Xu Qiu b, Weishan Chen a, Jie Deng a, Yingxiang Liu a, *, Junjie Zhang b, *
a
State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang Province, China
b
Center for Precision Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A novel piezoelectric ultrasonic milling tool based on a longitudinal-bending hybrid piezoelectric transducer
Piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer (LBHT) is proposed. The major novelty of the proposed tool is that through longitudinal vibration and bending
Vibration-assisted milling vibration of the tool the impact ironing effect (IIE) and intermittent cutting effect (ICE) simultaneously, thus
PZT ceramic
achieving high-precision milling. Above all, the structure and operation principle of the longitudinal-bending
Longitudinal-bending hybrid
hybrid vibration-assisted milling (LBHVAM) system is amply depicted. Then, simulations and analyses are car­
ried out to design and analyze the structure size and critical ICE conditions. Ultimately, a prototype is manu­
factured and the vibration tests and machining experiments have been carried out. The results indicate that the
cutting force of LBHVAM of titanium alloy is 39.3% and 27.2% lower than the conventional milling (CM) and
longitudinal vibration-assisted milling (LVAM), and the propensity of burr formation is significantly reduced.
Furthermore, the surface roughness under LBHVAM reaches Sa 0.102 μm, which is 85.2% and 54.5% lower than
CM and LVAM. Above results demonstrate that the proposed LBHVAM tool not only has unique advantages in
reducing cutting force and burr formation but also possesses great potential in improving machining accuracy,
which is highly desired in ultra-precision machining of difficult to cut materials.

1. Introduction excitation methods for vibration-assisted milling can be divided into

High-precision and high-performance parts for MEMS, biomedicine,
optoelectronics, aerospace, etc. have been rapidly developing [1–6],
aiming at achieving superior physical, mechanical, optical and
biocompatibility properties [7–10], etc. Thus, difficult-to-cut materials
(such as glasses, ceramics, titanium alloys) with characteristics of
high-precision tolerance and surface finish are usually needed to achieve
those superior properties [11–15]. Titanium alloys are widely used in
national defense, aerospace, biomedicine, etc. for their excellent
strength, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility [16–18], etc. How­
ever, the high cutting temperature, severe chill hardening and poor
cooling effect caused by low thermal conductivity, low elastic modulus
and strong ductility lead to serious tool wear and low machining accu­
racy [19–22]. The CM is used for titanium alloy machining due to its
strong flexibility and simple setting [23–26], but there are still serious
tool wear and low surface quality problems that need to be solved [27,
28]. Thus, vibration-assisted milling is introduced to improve the
machining accuracy and surface integrity [29–31], due to the IIE or ICE
caused by tool (or workpiece) vibration [32]. Typical vibration
mechanical [33], magnetostriction [34] and piezoelectric [35,36],
among which the piezoelectric transducer is the most wildly used
method for its rapid response [37–41], simple structure [42–45] and low
power consumption [46–49].
The vibration-assisted milling tool based on piezoelectric can be
divided into workpiece vibration-assisted milling (WVAM) [50–53] and
tool vibration-assisted milling (TVAM) [54,55] according to the applied
position of vibration. The WVAM device can usually realize
one-dimensional and two-dimensional vibration in the horizontal plane,
which plays a key role in reducing surface roughness and cutting force in
the milling of difficult-to-cut materials [56,57]. While the TVAM device
usually applies axial vibration which plays an obvious role in reducing
surface roughness and improving compressive stress of milled surface
[55]. In recent years, tremendous interest was aroused in
vibration-assisted milling device development and process optimization
due to the gigantic benefits taken from vibration-assisted milling
[58–60].
In terms of the WVAM, the workpiece is driven by the vibration of the
worktable. For example, Ko et al. [61] developed a one-dimensional

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: liuyingxiang868@hit.edu.cn (Y. Liu), zhjj505@gmail.com (J. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2022.107239
Received 30 December 2021; Received in revised form 22 March 2022; Accepted 24 March 2022
Available online 2 April 2022
0020-7403/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P. Du et al.
WVAM worktable with a frequency of 40 kHz, which realized the
high-precision milling of 6061 aluminum alloy with a surface roughness
of Ra 0.105 μm through ICE. Shen et al. [62] presented a
one-dimensional WVAM worktable that indicated the ultrasonic vibra­
tion in the feed direction can significantly reduce the milling force. Xu et
al. [63] reported a one-dimensional WVAM worktable in cantilever type
realized the cutting force reduction of 17% and surface roughness
reduction from Ra 0.355 μm to Ra 0.279 μm in milling of titanium alloy
due to ICE. Razfar et al. [64] presented a one-dimensional WVAM
worktable that could reduce the surface roughness from Ra 2.27 μm to
Ra 1.59 μm in AISI 1020 steel milling due to IIE. Shen et al. [57]
developed a one-dimensional WVAM worktable which realized a surface
roughness of Ra 0.4 μm with vibration in feed direction in 2A12
aluminum alloy milling. Lian et al. [65] developed a one-dimensional
WVAM worktable that reached a surface roughness reduction from Ra
0.42 μm to Ra 0.22 μm in milling of aluminum alloy through IIE. Lu et al.
[66] reported a one-dimensional WVAM worktable that realized the
manufacturing of precision functional surface is by applying ultrasonic
vibration in the feed direction. Chern et al. [67] proposed a
two-dimensional WVAM platform that realized surface roughness
reduction from Ra 1.382 μm to Ra 0.914 μm in milling of 6061
aluminum alloy. Furthermore, Ding et al. [32] developed a
two-dimensional WVAM platform that realized the surface roughness of
Ra 0.1 μm in hardened tool steel milling, whereas the vibration in both
directions was radial vibration only ICE can be formed. Chen et al. [51]
proposed a two-dimensional WVAM platform that realized the
machining of the precision functional surface by two-dimensional vi­
bration in the horizontal plane. Zheng et al. [53] developed a
two-dimensional WVAM platform that realized the reduction of tool
wear and surface roughness by two-dimensional vibration-assisted ti­
tanium alloy milling. In a word, the WVAM platforms realized the
milling accuracy improving, cutting force and tool wear reduction, etc.
through the IIE or ICE caused by workpiece vibration [61,63]. Never­
theless, only small and light workpieces were suitable for the WVAM, as
the workpiece was the load of the vibration system, which had a great
impact on the amplitude and frequency of the vibration system, thus
limiting its application and promotion [68–70].
In order to solve these problems, the TVAM systems, in which vi­
bration is applied on the tool, were proposed to get rid of the limitation
of the workpiece weight and size. Ostasevicius et al. [68] proposed a
one-dimensional TVAM system based on longitudinal vibration that
achieved the surface roughness reduction from Ra 0.56 μm to Ra 0.46
μm in titanium alloy milling through IIE. Suarez et al. [71] developed a
one-dimensional TVAM system that realized the surface roughness of Ra
0.22 μm in Ni-Alloy 718 milling. Maurotto et al. [72] reported a longi­
tudinal vibration-based TVAM tool for AISI 316L milling which realized
a surface roughness of Ra 0.24 μm. Feng et al. [69] reported a longitu­
dinal vibration-assisted milling tool that helped to reduce the cutting
temperature in 6063 aluminum alloy milling. In recent years, Ma et al.
[73] proposed a longitudinal-torsion TVAM tool that formed a surface
roughness of Ra 0.5 μm in BK7 optical glass milling, and it also showed
great advantages in quickly chip removal. In addition, Ying et al. [74]
reported a longitudinal-torsion TVAM tool for titanium alloy milling
which realized the increase of milling surface compressive stress. The
longitudinal torsion ultrasonic-assisted milling realized the
two-dimensional vibration of the tool, while its vibration in two di­
rections was coupled with each other and could not be adjusted inde­
pendently, which limited its application. Geng et al. [75] proposed a
bending-bending hybrid TVAM system for CFRP machining, the
two-dimensional vibration in the radial direction increased the tool life
by 1.98 times and improved the integrity of the machined surface.
Overall, a certain breakthrough in machining accuracy had been made
by the TVAM systems. However, most of the TVAM devices were only
one-dimensional vibration which could not combine IIE and ICE
simultaneously, multi-dimensional vibration TVAM devices had just
begun, and other compound vibration models and their machining
2
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239
effects for milling needed to be further explored.
In order to meet the above challenges, an LBHVAM system is pro­
posed in this work. The IIE caused by longitudinal vibration and the ICE
caused by bending vibration are simultaneously realized by only one
LBHT. The significant contribution of the LBHVAM system is the reali­
zation of high-precision, low-burr and unlimited workpiece weight and
size milling through the combined action of longitudinal and bending
tool vibrations. The rest of this work is organized as follows. Section 2
discusses the configuration and operation principle of the system. In
Section 3, simulation and analysis are carried out. In Section 4, the vi­
bration and machining test results of the LBHVAM system are analyzed.
Ultimately, the conclusion is arranged in Section 5.
2. Configuration and operation principle
The novel LBHVAM device applies the longitudinal vibration along
the axial direction and the bending vibration along the radial direction
to the milling cutter simultaneously by only one LBHT. Thus, the
structural design of the LBHT is very critical since longitudinal vibration
and bending vibration need to be integrated into the same transducer.
Therefore, the structural design of the LBHVAM system and the simul­
taneous excitation method of longitudinal and bending vibration is
described in detail in this section. Moreover, the elliptic trajectory
generated by longitudinal-bending vibration at the milling cutter is
established to analyze the principle of simultaneous formation of IIE and
ICE.
2.1. Configuration of the proposed LBHVAM system
The three-dimensional structure of the LBHVAM system is shown in
Fig. 1(a). The system is mainly composed of an LBHT, a connecting
flange, a collector ring, a tapered mandrel and a fixed flange. The upper
end of the connecting flange is connected with the spindle through a
tapered mandrel, and the lower end is connected with LBHT through
bolts. The long ventilation holes are designed on the connecting flange
to ensure the air flow with the outside during milling, thus reducing the
working temperature of the transducer. The symmetry of connecting
flange and the symmetry of assembly are considered so that the venti­
lation structure will not destroy the symmetry of the structure. Above
all, four long holes are evenly distributed on the circumference of the
connecting flange to ensure the symmetry of the connecting flange itself.
Furthermore, the symmetry between the bending ceramics and the four
holes is guaranteed during assembly so as to prevent the occurrence of
spurious vibration modes. Moreover, the longitudinal vibration and
bending vibration modes of the transducer are little affected by the
connecting flange, because the nodal plane of the FLV and TBV are both
set at the flange. The collector ring ensures the power supply of the LBHT
during rotation. The outer of the collector ring is connected with the
fixed flange through bolts, while the inner is fixed on the connecting
flange through bolts. In order to ensure that the outer of the collector
ring is fixed when the spindle rotates, the fixed flange is fixed on the
spindle sleeve through bolts.
The LBHT is composed of an end cap, PZT ceramics, electrodes, horn,
lock nut, milling cutter and clamp sheath, as shown in Fig. 1(b). The
milling cutter is installed in the horn through a clamp sheath and fixed
by a lock nut. The PZT ceramics and electrodes are clamped tightly
between the horn and the end cap through the bolt on the end cap. Two
groups of PZT ceramics named PZT-L and PZT-B are used to excite the
first longitudinal vibration (FLV) and third bending vibration (TBV)
modes independently. The PZT-L and PZT-B group contains two and four
pieces of ceramics respectively, and their polarization directions are
shown in Fig. 1(c). The symbols “+” and “-” represent the polarization
direction of ceramics. The FLV mode is excited due to the high-frequency
elongation and contraction of PZT-L when AC voltage is applied. There
are two independent zones in each ceramic of PZT-B, the polarization
direction of the two zones is opposite. The upper and lower zones of the
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Fig. 1. Configuration of the LBHVAM system. (a)(b) The structure model of the LBHVAM system and the LBHT. The sectional view is adopted to clearly show the
assembly relationship of the system. The PZT-L and PZT-B denote ceramics used to excite longitudinal vibration and bending vibration respectively. (c) The po­
larization of the PZT elements. The explosion and enlarged view of ceramics and electrodes are used to clearly show the polarization and energization of ceramics.
There, the red arrow represents the polarization direction, whereas the wirings at the bottom indicate the energization of the electrodes. (d) Prototype of the
LBHVAM system.

PZT ceramic become thicker and thinner respectively when the same the milling cutter tip L(t) can be expressed as:
voltage is applied through the electrode, thus a bending along the Y-axis
L(t) = Al sin(2πf1 t + γ) (1)
formed. The FLV and TBV modes of the transducer are excited simul­
taneously when two signals (signal A and B) of the same frequency are where Al denotes the maximum amplitude of the FLV, f1 represents the
applied to the electrodes shown in Fig. 1(c). The overall dimensions of resonant frequency of the FLV, t is the time, γ denotes the initial phase of
the LBHVAM system are 184 mm and 86 mm in length and diameter. the FLV. In addition, the amplitude of the TBV at the milling cutter tip B
The prototype of the LBHVAM system is shown in Fig. 1(d). The end (t) when the signal B is applied to the PZT-B can be expressed as:
cap is made of stainless steel with high density, while the horn is made of
titanium alloy with low density to increase the amplitude of the horn. B(t) = Ab sin(2πf3 t + φ) (2)
The lock nut and clamp sheath are made of bearing steel to increase wear
resistance. Long holes are distributed on the connecting flange to ensure where Ab and f3 represent the maximum amplitude and the resonant
the air circulation around the LBHT during rotation and achieve the frequency of the TBV, φ denote the initial phase of the TBV. Thus, the
purpose of cooling. trajectory of the milling cutter tip can be obtained by combining Eqs. (1)
and (2)
( )2 ( )2
2.2. Operation principle of the LBHVAM system L(t) B(t) 2L(t)B(t)cos(γ − φ)
+ − − sin2 (γ − φ) = 0 (3)
Al Ab L(t)B(t)
It is well known that the milling quality can be improved by ICE and
IIE due to the change of cutting mechanism [63]. Those two effects can Moreover, when f1 is equal to f3 and the phase difference (γ-φ) is π/2 rad
be achieved simultaneously by the elliptical trajectory of the milling the synthetic vibration at the milling cutter tip can be expressed as Eq.
cutter tip which is formed by the superimposing of the FLV and TBV (4). It can be recognized that the trajectory at the milling cutter tip is
modes of the proposed LBHT. Therefore, two alternating current signals elliptical when the phase difference is π/2 rad.
(as shown in Fig. 2(a)) of the same frequency need to be applied to PZT-L ( )2 ( )2
L(t) B(t)
and PZT-B. Fig. 2(a) shows that the period of signals A and B is T. + =1 (4)
Al Ab
During the signal A is applied to the PZT-L the motion of the FLV at

3
P. Du et al.
Fig. 2. The excitation signals and the elliptical trajectory formation. (a) The
excitation signals. The T and Vmax denote the period and amplitude of the
excitation signal respectively. Signal A and Signal B represent signals that excite
longitudinal and bending vibrations respectively. (b) Elliptical trajectory
formed at the milling cutter tip. The red dot on the ellipse indicates the position
of the milling cutter tip at every quarter cycle. The IIE and ICE indicate the
formation time point of impact ironing effect and intermittent cutting effect
respectively.
Through the above analysis, the elliptical movement of the milling
cutter tip within a period T can be obtained, as shown in Fig. 2(b). The
FLV is used to control the IIE of the shear blade, while the TBV is used to
control the ICE of the side edge. The FLV and TBV are orthogonal to each
other in space under the phase difference of 90◦ , which ensures the ICE
and IIE can be realized simultaneously in one cycle.
In order to further explain the formation principle of IIE and ICE in
the LBHVAM process, Fig. 3 shows the chips formation in detail. The
elliptical trajectory is formed at the milling cutter tip by simultaneously
FLV and TBV of the tool, as shown in Fig. 3(a). The bottom surface of the
groove is impacted by the shear blade under the action of longitudinal
vibration. Therefore, a more precise bottom surface can be formed by
the IIE compared with CM.
Fig. 3(c) and (d) show the principle of material removal under
Fig. 3. Principle of LBHVAM and CM. (a) Front view of LBHVAM. (b) Top view of LBHVAM. (c) (d)The ICE principle of LBHVAM and the continuous cutting in CM.
There, the trajectories of two adjacent teeth of the milling cutter are represented by red and blue solid lines respectively, whereas the separation of the tool and
workpiece path is marked in pink. A and B represent the position of the milling cutter edge tip at two different cutting times.
4
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239
LBHVAM and CM. The formation of Long and continuous chips in CM
can cause defects such as burr extrusion [76], chip scratches [65] and
tool wear [32] which are not conducive to high-precision machining. On
the contrary, intermittent chips are generated in the LBHVAM because
of alternately contact and separation between the tool and workpiece at
positions “A” and “B” (as shown in Fig. 3(c)) by bending vibration. The
advantages of ICE such as easy chip removal, lower cutting force and
tool wear are helpful for high-precision machining [67]. The ICE can be
formed when the vibration parameters and cutting parameters meet
certain conditions, which will be discussed in detail in Section 3.
Overall, The IIE and ICE formed by FLV and TBV are realized simulta­
neously in LBHVAM, which shows the potential in improving machining
accuracy, and that will be discussed in detail in Section 4.
3. Simulations and analyses
Traditional single modal ultrasound-assisted milling equipment does
not need to tune multiple vibration modes, but this is unavoidable in the
design of composite mode ultrasonic milling equipment. Tuning of
longitudinal vibration and bending vibration resonance frequency is the
key to designing the LBHT since the frequencies and the position of the
fixed node of the two vibration modals need to be accurately adjusted to
the same. Simulation methods such as modal analysis, harmonic
response analysis and transient analysis are combined to optimize the
modal shape, amplitude and elliptical trajectory for completing the
tuning and the design of specific dimensions of the LBHT. In addition,
the kinematics analysis of milling cutter teeth in LBHVAM is an
important tool to analyze the relationship between ICE generation and
vibration machining parameters. Thus, the kinematics model of milling
cutter tip considering feed speed, number of teeth, amplitude, phase and
other parameters is established and the influence of vibration amplitude
on ICE is analyzed in this section.
3.1. Finite element simulation of the LBHT
Modal analysis is applied by the ANSYS software to optimize the
dimensions of the proposed LBHT to achieve the desired modal and
frequency. The end cap is made of stainless steel 304 with a mass density
of 7930 kg/m3, Young’s modulus of 1.94 × 1011 N/m2 and a Poisson
ratio of 0.3. The material of the horn is titanium alloy TC4 with a mass
density of 4260 kg/m3, Young’s modulus of 9.6 × 1010 N/m2, and a
Poisson ratio of 0.36. The bearing steel is selected as the material of the
lock nut and the clamp sheath with the mass density of 7400 kg/m3,
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Young’s modulus of 2.07 × 1011 N/m2 and the Poisson ratio of 0.3. The 3.2. Kinematics analysis of the LBHVAM
material of the milling cutter is cemented carbide with a mass density of
10294 kg/m3, a Poisson ratio of 0.3 and Young’s modulus of 2.08 × 1011 The advantages of vibration-assisted milling such as low cutting
N/m2. All of the PZT ceramics are PZT-4 with a mass density of 7600 kg/ force, temperature and surface roughness are largely affected by the ICE
m3. Other physical parameters of the PZT ceramic are listed in Table 1, [63] which can be obtained through kinematic analysis. Thus it is
the ε, e and C represent the dielectric matrix, piezoelectric matrix and necessary to establish the kinematics model under the condition of
stiffness matrix. The LBHT is fixed by applying displacement constraints longitudinal-bending vibration to clarify the conditions of ICE and guide
on the mounting holes on the flange of the horn. the selection of experimental amplitude.
The working frequency of the transducer at 20 kHz is conducive to In the LBHVAM process, the movement between the tool and the
reducing noise since the lower limit of the ultrasonic frequency band (20 workpiece includes the feeding of the workpiece, the tool rotation and
kHz) exceeds human hearing. Moreover, a larger amplitude can be ob­ vibration, as shown in Fig. 5. Point D is located in the cutting depth
tained under the same excitation voltage when the resonance frequency range of the i-th cutting edge.
is at a lower frequency. Thus, the desired modal frequency of the LBHT The change of the angle between point D and Y-axis can be expressed
should be near 20 kHz for obtaining a large amplitude and reducing as:
noise [47]. The frequencies of the FLV (f1) and the TBV (f3) are adjusted
2πnt 2π (Zi − 1)
to be close to each other by repeatedly adjusting the size of the horn and θ(t) = − +β (5)
60 Z
end cap. The result of the modal analysis in Fig. 4(a) and (b) shows that
f1 and f3 are 18.729 kHz and 18.817 kHz, respectively. The difference where n represents the milling cutter rotation speed, β is the angle be­
between f1 and f3 is only 88 Hz, which indicates that the frequency tween the initial position of point D and the Y-axis, Z and Zi represent the
matching between the FLV and TBV is realized. In addition, the design of number of the milling cutter teeth and the i-th tooth. The position of
the nodal plane is very critical in the design process of modal compound point D in the X direction includes the bending vibration and the feed
vibration-assisted machining equipment. The design of the nodal plane distance along the X direction, which can be expressed as:
mainly considers two principles: (a) the two composite modes are not
affected by the nodal plane when excited at the same time, (b) the nodal xi (t) = (r + B(t))sin(θ(t)) + Vx t (6)
plane is set at the position with the least impact on the machine tool
where Vx denotes the feed speed in the X direction, n represents the
spindle. The vibration modes of the FLV and the TBV are shown in Fig. 4
milling cutter radius. Meanwhile, the position of point D in the Y di­
(a) and (b). Firstly, one of the vibration nodes of both the two modes
rection can be expressed as:
needs to be set at the same position to ensure that the longitudinal and
bending modes can be excited at the same time. It can be found from yi (t) = (r + B(t))cos(θ(t)) + Vy t (7)
Fig. 4(a) and (b) that the FLV node (N1) and the TBV node (N3) are
designed to coincide with each other. Secondly, in order to reduce the where Vy is the feed speed in Y direction, Moreover, considering the
influence of transducer vibration on the machine tool spindle, the nodal axial vibration, the position of point D in the Z direction can be
plane is set at the flange. The transmission of vibration to the machine expressed as:
tool spindle is avoided since the vibration displacement at the node is
zi (t) = z0 + L(t) + Vz t (8)
almost zero. Furthermore, the low-rigidity design of the thin-walled
flange connecting to the transducer ensures that the
where Z0 is the initial coordinate of point D in the Z direction, Vz rep­
longitudinal-bending vibration mode of the transducer can be well
resents the feed speed in the Z direction. Thus, the coordinate of point D
excited. Ultimately, the main geometric dimensions of the LBHT
can be obtained by substituting B(t), L(t) and θ(t) into Eq. (6),Eq. (7) and
adjusted through modal analysis are shown in Fig. 4(c).
Eq. (8).
The harmonic response analysis under 300 Vp-p from 18 kHz to 19.5 ( )
⎧
kHz with an interval of 0.018 kHz is carried out. The amplitude of point ⎪ 2πnt 2π(Zi − 1)
⎪ xi (t) = (r + Ab sin(2πft + φ))sin − + β + Vx t
M (as shown in Fig. 4(c)) at the center of the end of the milling cutter ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨
60 Z
along the longitudinal and bending vibration directions with frequency (
2πnt 2π (Zi − 1)
)
(9)
is extracted, as shown in Fig. 4(d). It can be recognized that the reso­ ⎪
⎪
⎪
yi (t) = (r + Ab sin(2πft + φ))cos
60
−
Z
+ β + Vy t
⎪
⎪
nance frequencies of the FLV and TBV are 18.726 kHz and 18.816 kHz, ⎩
zi (t) = z0 + Al sin(2πft + γ) + Vz t
and the corresponding amplitudes are 10.03 μm and 12.51 μm, respec­
tively. This amplitude can be changed by adjusting the voltage to meet In order to explore the formation conditions of ICE in LBHVAM, the
different milling conditions. tool trajectory simulations under different amplitude are carried out.
In order to study the dynamic performance of the transducer under The machining parameters such as n, Vx, Vy, Vz, r and Z are set as 2000 r/
the excitation of alternating current signals in Fig. 2(a), the transient min, 2 μm/Z, 0 μm/Z, 0 μm/Z, 1 mm and 4. The initial parameters β and
analysis is carried out. The voltage, frequency and phase difference of Z0 are set to 0 rad and 0 mm. The ultrasonic vibration parameters such as
the signals are set to 300 Vp-p, 18.773 kHz and π/2 rad. The FLV and TBV f, φ, γ are 18.471 kHz, 0 and π/2 rad. The Al and Ab are set to be equal,
displacements of the milling cutter tip in the last period are extracted and the tool tip trajectories under the amplitude of 0.5 μm, 1 μm and 2
and synthesized, as shown in Fig. 4(e). It can be recognized that the μm are simulated.
elliptical trajectory is realized, which proves that the expected ICE and The LBHVAM trajectory with an amplitude of 0.5 μm is shown in
IIE can be achieved simultaneously. Fig. 6(a). The three-dimensional trajectory of the tool tip is formed

Table 1
The physical parameters of the PZT ceramics.
ε (F/m) e (C/m2) C (N/m2)
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
7.65 0 0 0 0 − 2.4 14.3 7.85 7.85 0 0 0
⎣ 0 7.65 0 ⎦ × 10− 9 ⎢ 0 0 − 2.4 ⎥ ⎢ 7.85 14.3 7.85 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
0 0 6.40 ⎢ 0 0 17.3 ⎥ ⎢ 7.85 7.85 11.5 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎢
⎥ ⎥ × 1010
⎢ 0 0 0 ⎥ ⎢ 0 0 0 2.6 0 0 ⎥
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
⎣ 0 12.95 0 ⎦ ⎣ 0 0 0 0 2.45 0 ⎦
12.95 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.45

5
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Fig. 4. The results of modal and transient analysis for the LBHT. (a)(b) Modal analysis results of the LBHT. The blue arrows indicate the vibration direction of the
milling cutter tip. The deformation in the figure represents the relative deformation between the parts of the model. (c) The final structure size of the LBHT. Point M is
located in the center of the end face of the milling cutter. (d) Relationship between the amplitude A and vibration frequency f by harmonic response analysis. (e) The
vibration trajectory at the milling cutter tip (point M in panel (c)) is obtained by transient analysis. Al and Ab represent the amplitudes of longitudinal and
bending vibrations.

Fig. 5. The model of the LBHVAM process. There, the black arrow represents the feed speed direction, whereas point D represents any point within the cutting depth
range on the cutting edge. Vx, Vy and Vz represent the feed speed in three directions.

under the combined action of longitudinal vibration, bending vibration
and tool rotation. The trajectory is projected onto the XY plane to
observe the ICE trajectory of the side edge, as shown in Fig. 6(b). The
enlarged view of the trajectory projected on the XY plane is extracted, as
shown in Fig. 6(c) to (h).
It can be found from Fig. 6(c), (e) and (g) that the intermittent cut­
ting of the side edge and the workpiece in the feed direction cannot be
formed when the vibration amplitude is less than 1 μm. Such phenom­
enon can be explained as: The cutting trajectories of the previous and
next teeth are unable to cross due to the feed per tooth being larger than
the vibration amplitude. In addition, the ICE in the feeding direction can
be formed when the amplitude is greater than 0.5 times the feed per
tooth, as shown in Fig. 6(e). Moreover, Fig. 6(d), (f) and (h) show that
the ICE between the side edge and sidewall can be formed regardless of
the bending vibration amplitude.
Overall, the critical condition of ICE formation is defined by the tool
path analysis of LBHVAM, which will be used to guide the amplitude
selection in Section 4. The formation of the ICE reduces the chip size
which can facilitate the chip removal, prevent the burr formed by the
extrusion of large chips, and improve the surface quality.

6
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Fig. 6. Simulation of tool tip trajectory by LBHVAM. The X, Y and Z represent the coordinate of point D on the milling cutter edge along with three directions. (a) The
three-dimensional trajectory under amplitude of 0.5 μm. Under the simultaneous action of longitudinal bending vibration, the three-dimensional spiral trajectory of
two adjacent teeth is displayed in the upper right corner. (b) The projection of the three-dimensional trajectory on the XY plane. The trajectories in the green and
orange boxes are enlarged and displayed in the following figures. (c)(d), (e)(f) and (g)(h) The enlarged view of tool tip trajectory under amplitude of 0.5 μm, 1 μm
and 2 μm.

4. Experiments and discussions 4.1. Vibration test of the LBHT

Vibration tests were carried out to obtain the real vibration modal
and amplitude information of LBHVAM for guiding the application of
vibration signals in milling. The LBHVAM experimental system was built
to study the milling effect under different vibration parameters. Milling
experiments under CM, LVAM and LBHVAM were carried out, and
milling forces, burrs formation, surface roughness information were
obtained. In addition, the influence law of vibration parameters on that
information was discussed in detail. Finally, the unique advantages of
the proposed LBHVAM system in vibration-assisted milling were ob­
tained by comparing it with other similar works.
The application of bolt preload is very important during transducer
assembly. The pre-tightening torque of the central bolts needs to be
calculated and chosen accurately in order to ensure both the ceramic
remains compressive when the maximum elongation occurs under the
maximum voltage and the safety of the bolt.
The maximum elongation of ceramic under the maximum operating
voltage (350 Vpp) is 0.916 × 10− 6 m through harmonic response anal­
ysis. Thus, the shrinkage of ceramics needs to be greater than or equal to
0.916 × 10− 6 m under the action of prestressing. Therefore, the initial
compressive stress required on the ceramic can be calculated as follows:

7
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

EΔL2 The range of F0 is between 20803.2 N and 23630.63 N. The pre-

σ min = (10)
L tightening torque applied to the bolt is calculated as follows:

where E is the elastic modulus of ceramics which is 7.65 × 104 MPa, ΔL2
is the compression of ceramic which is 0.916 × 10− 6 m, L is the thickness
of ceramic which is 2 mm. Therefore, the minimum prestressing of the
ceramic σmin is calculated as 35.037 MPa. Therefore, the minimum
prestress of the bolt σbmin can be obtained as follows:
σmin APZT
σ bmin = (11)
Ab
where APZT is the cross-sectional area of ceramics which is 593.76 mm2,
Ab is the stress cross-sectional area of the bolt which is 64.49 mm2. Thus,
the minimum prestress of the bolt σbmin is obtained as 322.56 MPa. The
bolt is made of stainless steel and its fatigue limit is 458.3 MPa, so the
maximum prestress of the bolt σ bmax is 366.4 MPa. The pretension force
of the bolt F0 can be calculated as follows:
F0 = (σbmin ∼ σ bmax )Ab (12)
1 1 D3 − d3
Tb = Tl + Tf = F0 tan(θ + α)d2 + F0 f 2 (13)
2 3 D − d2
where Tl and Tf represent the thread resistance moment to overcome the
thread pair and the end face friction moment between the two contact
surfaces. The θ, α and d2 represent the lead angle, equivalent friction
angle and pitch diameter of the thread, which are 1.95◦ , 6.84◦ and 9.35
mm. The f, D and d represent the friction coefficient between the contact
surfaces, the effective outer diameter and the inner diameter of the
contact surfaces, which are 0.15, 30 mm and 12 mm. The bolt preload
torque is calculated to be in the range of 48.84 N•m to 55.49 N•m. After
many tests, the final bolt preload torque applied by the prototype is 51
N•m, which not only ensures the safety of the transducer but also en­
sures that the prototype works at a suitable resonant frequency.
The proposed LBHT was fabricated and its vibration characteristics
were tested. The mode shapes of the FLV and TBV tested by a scanning
laser Doppler vibrometer (Model: PSV-400-M2, Polytec GmbH,

Fig. 7. The vibration and amplitude measurement results of the LBHVAM system. (a) The measured modal shape of FLV at the end cap when the sweep signal is
applied to the PZT-L. The f1 represents the first longitudinal vibration frequency. (b) The measured modal shape of TBV at the side of the transducer when the sweep
signal is applied to the PZT-B. The f3 represents the third bending vibration frequency. (c)(d) Vibration velocity v response spectrum of the FLV and TBV. (e) The
relationship between the milling cutter tip amplitude of FLV and TBV with voltage U. The Sim-TBV and Sim-FLV represent the amplitude A of the TBV and FLV from
simulation, whereas, the Exp-TBV and Exp-FLV represent the amplitude of the TBV and FLV from the experiment. (f) Vibration trajectories of milling cutter tip under
300 VP-P and phase shift of 90◦ . Al and Ab represent the amplitudes of longitudinal and bending vibrations.

8
P. Du et al.
Germany) are shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b). It can be found from Fig. 7 (a)
that the mode shape of the FLV is measured from the projection laser on
the front face of the transducer. Fig. 7 (b) shows the TBV mode shapes
obtained by projecting laser from the side of the transducer. The results
show that the FLV at the end of the transducer and the TBV at the side
are excited, which verifies the working principle of the proposed
LBHVAM system. Fig. 7(c) and (d) show that the frequencies of FLV and
TBV are 18.401 kHz and 18.541 kHz, which are 0.328 kHz and 0.276
kHz different from the simulation. The difference in material parameters
and assembly error is the main reason for the difference between
simulation and actual frequency. On the other hand, the difference of
0.14 kHz between the FLV and TBV indicates that these two modes have
successfully matched in this prototype. The resonant frequency of the
transducer is a little different from that under milling load since reso­
nant frequency measurement is under no-loads. However, the trans­
ducer can still work near the resonant frequency due to the milling force
being small in the ultra-precision milling which has little effect on the
resonant frequency.
A three-dimensional printed block is installed at the end of the
milling cutter, and the FLV and TBV amplitudes are measured simulta­
neously by a laser displacement sensor (Model: LK-H020, Keyence Co.
Ltd., Japan). The measured results and transient analysis results under
the same voltage and frequency are shown in Fig. 7(e). It can be found
from Fig. 7(e) that the amplitudes of FLV and TBV at the milling cutter
tip under 300 Vp-p are 9.02 μm and 10.97 μm, and the errors with the
simulation are 6.4% and 3.9%. The results show that the amplitude at
the milling cutter tip is in good agreement with the simulation, which
also reflects the correctness of the simulation process. In addition, it can
be seen from Fig. 7(e) that the error of simulation amplitude and
experimental value increases with the increase of voltage. The reason is
that affected by the nonlinear characteristics of piezoelectric materials
[77], the amplitude of piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer presents
nonlinear characteristics with the change of voltage (manifested in the
attenuation of transducer amplitude with the increase of voltage) [78].
The relationship between the measured amplitude and voltage can
be expressed as:
y = 0.0371x − 0.1096 (10)
y = 0.0296x + 0.002 (11)
There is a good linear relationship between the voltage and the
amplitude, and the amplitude of the LBHVAM process can be adjusted by
Fig. 8. The experimental system of the LBHVAM. The solid blue line indicates the wiring relationship between the instruments.
9
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239
changing the voltage.
The trajectory at the milling cutter tip is measured at the voltage,
frequency and phase difference of 300 Vp-p, 18.471 kHz and 90◦ , as
shown in Fig. 7(f). The test results show that an elliptical trajectory is
formed at the tool tip, which is in good agreement with the simulation,
and further verifies the proposed LBHVAM principle. In addition, the
measured vibration amplitude in both directions is lower than the
simulation, mainly due to three reasons. Firstly, the manufacturing
error, assembly error and the difference of material properties between
the simulation model and the prototype may result in a larger amplitude
attenuation in the bending direction. Secondly, the nonlinear charac­
teristics of piezoelectric materials lead to amplitude attenuation in both
directions. In addition, due to the small number of sampling points in a
single cycle (the maximum sampling frequency of the laser displacement
sensor is 392 kHz, the number of sampling points for the ultrasonic
transducer in each cycle is about 20 points), the maximum amplitude
may not be captured, resulting in a low measurement amplitude.
4.2. Machining test of the LBHVAM system
The experimental system including the proposed prototype and test
equipment is graphically illustrated in Fig. 8. The LBHVAM system
driven by the ultrasonic power supply (Model: QD-8D, JiDAO, China)
with an output frequency range from 0.05 kHz to 100 kHz is installed on
the precision milling spindle. The ultrasonic power supply can be
manually adjusted to the required frequency and its output voltage can
be continuously adjusted from 0 V to 500 V. Moreover, a Kistler force
measuring system includes a dynamometer (Model: 9119AA2, Kistler,
Switzerland), a charge amplifier (Model: 5080A, Kistler, Switzerland), a
data acquisition card (Model: 5697, Kistler, Switzerland) is adopted to
collect the milling dynamic force. The workpiece is fixed by a fixture and
installed on the dynamometer that moves along with the horizontal X-Y
precision motion platform. The TC4 titanium alloy is wire-cut into
samples with length, width and height of 20 mm, 10 mm and 10 mm,
and the to-be-machined surface is polished with the same parameters to
ensure consistency.
To verify the advantages of the LBHVAM system and optimize the
amplitude parameters, experiments of CM, LVAM and LBHVAM under
different amplitudes (A0p=0 μm, 0.5 μm, 1 μm, 2 μm, 3 μm, 4 μm, 5 μm)
were carried out. In the LBHVAM process, the amplitudes of longitudinal
vibration and bending vibration are set to be equal, and the amplitude
value used represents the zero to the peak value of the amplitude.
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Therefore, taking the applied amplitude of 5 μm in the LBHVAM
experiment as an example, it means that the zero to peak values of the
longitudinal vibration amplitude and the bending vibration amplitude
are both 5 μm. In the LVAM process, the amplitude used in the experi­
ments also refers to the zero to peak of the amplitude. The milling pa­
rameters of the rotation speed, feed rate and cutting depth were 2000 r/
min, 2 μm/Z and 80 μm, which were the same with the three kinds of
experiments. Three cutting experiments were performed under each set
of parameters, and the cutting force and chips were collected during
each cutting. The optical stereo microscope (Model: ToupCam, Toup­
Tek, China) was used to observe the burrs and chips. The white light
interferometer (Model: NEWVIEW 8200, Zygo, America) was used to
derive the surface roughness and topography of the groove bottom.
Three positions of each groove were measured, and the average value
was taken.
The variation of cutting force in X, Y and Z directions with time in the
whole milling process is shown in Fig. 9 (a). As can be seen from Fig. 9
(a), the cutting force finally stabilizes after increasing for a period of
time and decreases at the end of cutting. In order to obtain the cutting
force in the milling stable stage for comparison, part of the original
cutting force in the stable stage is intercepted for analysis, as shown in
Fig. 9 (b). The average force obtained by one tool rotation is calculated
six times and the average value is taken as the average cutting force.
Fig. 9(c) shows that compared to CM the maximum cutting force
reduction is about 16.7% in LVAM. The reduction is mainly due to the
longitudinal vibration induced change of the material removal mecha­
nism from shear to a combination of impact and shear, which facilitate
material deformation and fracture. The Z-axis cutting force increases
(marked “U1” in Fig. 9(c)) when the amplitude exceeds 2 μm, which
leads to an increase in the total cutting force. Such phenomenon is
mainly caused by the sharp impact of the tool on the workpiece due to
the large amplitude.
Compared to CM, the total cutting force of the LBHVAM is decreased
by 39.3% shown in Fig. 9(d), which is about 2.3 times of the LVAM. The
reduction can be divided into two stages: in the first stage (marked “A”
in Fig. 9(d)), the cutting forces in X and Y directions decrease slowly,
mainly because the ICE is unformed under small amplitude, and the
principle of cutting force reduction is the same as that of LVAM; in the
second stage (marked “B” in Fig. 9(d)), the cutting forces in X and Y
directions decrease sharply due to the formation of ICE both in the feed
and vertical feed direction. The variation law of cutting force is in good
agreement with the theoretical analysis of ICE in Section 3, which proves
the correctness of the kinematics analysis. As with LVAM, the Z-direc­
tion cutting force increases (marked “U2” in Fig. 9(d)) due to the in­
crease in the impact force caused by the excessive longitudinal vibration
amplitude.
To sum up, the cutting force reduction of LBHVAM is 39.3% lower
than CM, and 27.2% lower than LVAM. It means that LBHVAM is su­
perior to LVAM and CM in cutting force reduction, which helps a lot to
improve the stability of the cutting process, thus favorable for forming a
high-quality surface.
The minimization of burr can improve the machining accuracy and
reduce the difficulty of post-processing [79] [76]. To compare the
effectiveness in burr reduction and chip formation Fig. 10 shows the
machining surfaces and chips under CM, LVAM and LBHVAM at the
amplitude of 2 μm.
Fig. 10(a) to (f) shows that there are many burrs on the sidewall of
the CM groove, and the burr of LVAM is reduced significantly, while the
LBHVAM does not show obvious burr. The above results indicate that
LBHVAM plays an important role in burr reduction. Affected by the high
ductility of titanium alloy, long and continuous chips (as shown in
Fig. 10 (g)) are formed under CM, which is not conducive to the chip
removal and leads to the entanglement on the tool. Such phenomenon
interferes with the contact between the tool and the workpiece, which

Fig. 9. The real-time cutting force Ft changes under the amplitude of 2 μm and the variation of average cutting force with amplitude during machining. The Fx, Fy,
and Fz represent the average cutting force in X, Y and Z directions, and F represents the average cutting force in total. U1 and U2 represent the increasing stage of
milling force in the Z direction, whereas, A, B represents two decreased stages of cutting force in the X and Y directions. (a) The cutting force Ft in three directions
changes with time t when the amplitude is 2 μm in the whole milling process. (b) Variation of cutting force Ft with time t in the stable milling stage. (c) The average
cutting force in LVAM FL variation. (d) The average cutting force in LBHVAM FLB variation. (Amplitude 0 μm indicates CM).

10
P. Du et al.
Fig. 10. Optical stereo microscope close-up of milled surfaces and chips. (a)(b), (c)(d) and (e)(f) The surface under CM, LVAM and LBHVAM. (g)(h)(i) The chips
morphology under CM, LVAM and LBHVAM. There, CM, LVAM and LBHVAM represent the conventional milling, longitudinal vibration-assisted milling and
longitudinal-bending hybrid vibration-assisted milling.
results in continuous extrusion of the material at the outlet of the
groove, thus forming massive burrs.
In the LVAM, the impact load is applied to the contact area between
the workpiece and the tool by the longitudinal vibration. Thus, the
material deformation and fracture reach the maximum instantaneously,
which results in changing of the material removal mode from the
shearing to a combination of impact and shearing. Therefore, the chips
breaking is accelerated and relatively short chips (as shown in Fig. 10
(h)) are formed, which reduced burrs formation on the sidewall.
In the LBHVAM, the IIE caused by longitudinal vibration and ICE
caused by bending vibration are more conducive for chip breaking, thus
thin and segmented chips are formed in Fig. 10(i). The cutting force
reduction caused by the ICE reduces the squeezing of the chips, which
results in the less pronounced formation of burrs (as shown in Fig. 10(e)
and (f)). It can be concluded that the LBHVAM effectively reduces the
burr formation of titanium alloy and improves the surface quality by
combining the IIE and ICE.
Surface roughness is an important indicator of machining quality,
which directly affects the performance of products. Therefore, the sur­
face roughness of the groove bottom under different amplitudes is
measured to study the influence of vibration on surface quality. It can be
recognized from Fig. 11 that the milling surface quality of the two
methods is almost the same when the amplitude is equal to 0.5 um,
which is mainly because the milling surface roughness value is relatively
Fig. 11. The surface roughness Sa on the groove bottom changes with vibration
amplitude A. There, CM, LVAM and LBHVAM represent the conventional
milling, longitudinal vibration-assisted milling and longitudinal-bending hybrid
vibration-assisted milling. The error bars represent 95% confidence intervals for
surface roughness.
11
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239
close due to the small vibration energy input. In addition, the LBHVAM
can significantly improve the milling surface quality compared with the
LVAM when the amplitude is greater than or equal to 1 um. Further­
more, the milling surface quality of the two methods is the best when the
amplitude is 2 um, but the LBHVAM is still significantly better than the
LVAM. The surface roughness of CM is Sa 0.589 μm, while the minimum
surface roughnesses can be reached by LVAM and LBHVAM under the
amplitude of 2 μm are Sa 0.224 μm and Sa 0.102 μm, as shown in Fig. 11.
The surface roughness of LBHVAM is 85.2% and 54.5% lower than CM
and LVAM, indicating that LBHAVM has obvious advantages in reducing
surface roughness.
The surface morphologies measured by the white light interferom­
eter are shown in Fig. 12 to further clarify the evolution of the surface
morphology in VAM. It can be found clearly from Fig. 12(a) and (c) that
irregular scratches (marked “M1” in Fig. 12(a)) and large feed marks are
observed on the surface of CM. Such phenomenon is mainly due to the
continuous contact between the tool and the workpiece during the CM,
the resultant extrusion and friction between the tool and the workpiece
destroy the machined surface integrity. In addition, a large increase in
surface roughness is found due to scratches (marked “M2” in Fig. 12(b)).
Such phenomenon can be explained as residual highly harden chips
formed by continuous cutting [67] increase the probability of being
scratched, thus resulting in an increase of roughness.
It can be found from Fig. 12(c) and (e) that the surface roughness of
LVAM and LBHVAM under the amplitude of 0.5 μm is basically the same.
The light reduction of roughness is mainly due to the high-frequency
impact of the tool on the workpiece, which forms an IIE on the work­
piece. However, larger feed marks (marked “M3” in Fig. 12(c)) and
irregular scratches (marked “M4” in Fig. 12(d)) are still observed. Such
phenomenon indicates that the contact state between the tool and the
workpiece is still continuous, which is consistent with the analysis of the
cutting mechanism in Fig. 6(c) to (d).
Fig. 12(e) shows the surface morphology of LVAM with an amplitude
of 2 μm, the roughness reduces to the minimum Sa 0.208 μm, which is
reduced by 62.0%. Such phenomenon can be explained as: the yield
strength and plastic deformation resistance are reduced by the high
energetic ultrasonic vibration, which improves the machinability of ti­
tanium alloy [63]; Besides, the material removal mechanism change
from shear fracture to impact and shear fracture under the high-energy
ultrasonic vibration, which reduces the cutting force and chip length.
However, the irregular scratches are still left (marked “M5” in Fig. 12
(e)), which affects the further improvement of surface roughness. This is
mainly because extrusion and friction between cutting edge and work­
piece still exist due to the continuous cutting of LVAM.
As shown in Fig. 12(f), the surface roughness of Sa 0.09 μm is ach­
ieved in the LBHVAM under the amplitude of 2 μm, which is 56.7%
lower than that of LVAM. The further reduction of surface roughness is
P. Du et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239

Fig. 12. White light interferometer measurement results of surface morphology on groove bottom. The M1-M7 represent defects on the machined surface under
different machining parameters respectively. (a)(b) The surface morphologies under CM. (c)(d), (e)(f) and (g)(h)The surface morphologies under vibration amplitude
0.5 μm, 2 μm and 5 μm. There, CM, LVAM and LBHVAM represent the conventional milling, longitudinal vibration-assisted milling and longitudinal-bending hybrid
vibration-assisted milling.

mainly caused by the ICE between the side edge and the workpiece
Table 2
formed by bending vibration. The ICE reduces the cutting force, making
Comparison of the proposed LBHVAM tool and some previous vibration-assisted
milling stable and easy to obtain a uniform high-quality surface.
milling devices.
Moreover, small chips are formed through ICE, which facilitates chip
removal and avoids secondary damage to the precision surface. Parameters Xu et al [63] Ostasevicius et al The proposed
[68] LBHVAM tool
The surface roughness of LVAM and LBHVAM increases to Sa 0.316
μm and Sa 0.288 μm when the amplitude increases to 5 μm, as shown in Vibration mode WVAM TVAM TVAM
VAM mechanism ICE IIE ICE and IIE
Fig. 12(g) and (h). Such phenomenon is mainly caused by the increased
Frequency 20.0 kHz 18.4 kHz 18.47 kHz
impact of the cutting edge on the workpiece under the action of large Amplitude 0-15 μm 0-20 μm 0-15 μm
amplitude. Thus, severe vibration marks (marked “M6” in Fig. 12(g) and Workpiece Small and light Unlimited Unlimited
marked “M7” in Fig. 12(h)) are formed, resulting in an integrity limitation weight
reduction of the machined surface. Workpiece material Titanium alloy Titanium alloy Titanium alloy
Cutting force 17% N/A 39.3%
It can be concluded that the LBHVAM of titanium alloy reaches a reduction
surface roughness of Sa 0.102 μm, which is 85.2% lower than the CM, Surface roughness 0.355 μm 0.56 μm 0.589 μm
and 54.5% lower than the LVAM, demonstrating the advantages of in CM
LBHVAM in improving machining accuracy. The realization of high- Surface roughness 0.279 μm 0.46 μm 0.102 μm
in VAM
quality machined surfaces by LBHVAM shows its great potential appli­
Surface roughness 21.4% 17.9% 85.2%
cation in ultra-precision Milling. In addition, the input of ultrasonic reduction
energy is beneficial to improve the machinability of titanium alloy, but
too high-energy input will seriously affect the contact state between tool
and workpiece, resulting in the deterioration of surface quality. The surface roughness reduction from Ra 0.56 μm to Ra 0.46 μm in milling of
optimal stable cutting state obtained by appropriate ultrasonic ampli­ titanium alloy owing to the IIE. However, lower machining accuracy by
tude selection is the key to obtaining a high-quality surface. the inability to achieve IIE and ICE simultaneously had become an un­
The performance comparisons between the proposed LBHVAM tool avoidable problem for this vibration-assisted milling tool, which is
and some previous studies were listed in Table 2. Xu et al. [63] presented limited by a single vibration mode. On the contrary, the
an ICE-based WVAM platform that achieved a surface roughness vibration-assisted milling tool in this work can realize IIE and ICE
reduction from Ra 0.355 μm to Ra 0.279 μm and a cutting force simultaneously by a single LBHT, in which lower surface roughness of Sa
reduction of about 17% in titanium alloy milling. Nevertheless, only the 0.102 μm, higher surface roughness reduction of 85.2% and higher
workpiece with light weight and small size could be milled due to the cutting force reduction of 39.3% are obtained.
limitation of the load capacity of the transducer and the platform vol­
ume. The LBHVAM tool proposed in this work could mill without limi­ 5. Conclusion
tation of the workpiece’s weight and size via contrasting the above
platform. Ostasevicius et al. [68] developed a TVAM tool that reached a In this work, a piezoelectric ultrasonic milling tool driven by an
LBHT was proposed, designed and tested. The driving principle for

12
P. Du et al.
simultaneously IIE and ICE was explained. Subsequently, the structure
size and critical ICE conditions were determined by simulations and
analysis. Then, the test system of the LBHT was established, and the
vibration mode, amplitude and ellipse trajectory were consistent with
the simulation, which verified the proposed operation principle and
meets the needs of LBHVAM. Finally, the LBHVAM system was built and
the milling experiments were carried out, the conclusions will be sum­
marized from four aspects: the innovation in tool structure design, the
effect of vibration amplitude on milling force and surface roughness, the
milling effect improvement and the future prospect.
The proposed novel ultrasonic-assisted milling tool used a longitu­
dinal bending hybrid ultrasonic transducer. The transducer was driven
by two independent signals so that the milling cutter tip formed high-
frequency vibration along the axial and radial direction. The vibration
in both directions made IIE and ICE form at the same time, which
improved the milling surface quality and it was a meaningful explora­
tion in the field of multi-dimensional vibration-assisted milling.
It was found that the milling force and surface roughness were very
sensitive to the amplitude of vibration in the LBHVAM process. The
milling force and surface roughness were rapidly reduced when the
amplitude was greater than 1 μm due to the formation of ICE, which
verified the proposed critical ICE condition. Excessive vibration ampli­
tude intensified the impact of the cutting edge on the workpiece,
resulting in the increase of axial cutting force and the deterioration of
surface roughness. This provided a useful reference for the selection of
ultrasonic-assisted milling amplitude of similar materials.
Moreover, the new LBHVAM tool had a tremendous effect in
reducing burr, milling force and surface roughness, compared with the
CM and LVAM. The burr formation had been effectively reduced in
LBHVAM, due to simultaneous implementation of IIE and ICE short­
ening the chips that reduced the chip extrusion by the cutter. The cutting
force of LBHVAM was 39.3% and 27.2% lower than that of CM and
LVAM, the surface roughness of Sa 0.102 μm had been reached, which
was 85.2% and 54.5% lower than CM and LVAM. These merits make the
LBHVAM tool has a great application prospect in ultra-precision
machining of difficult-to-cut materials. Further researches will focus
on expanding the application of the LBHVAM system in the milling of
other difficult-to-cut materials.
Credit author statement
Pengfei Du: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Validation, Writing
- original draft. La Han: Data curation, Visualization, Writing - review &
editing. Xu Qiu: Experimental assistance, Data curation. Weishan
Chen: Supervision, Writing - Review & Editing. Jie Deng: Validation,
Writing - Review & Editing. Yingxiang Liu: Conceptualization, Meth­
odology, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Junjie Zhang:
Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. U1913215 and No. 51975144) and the Science
Challenge Project (No.TZ2018006-0201-02).
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2022.107239.
13
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 222 (2022) 107239
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