UNIT-2

ULTRASONIC MACHINING
 Need for USM (ULTRASONIC MACHINE)

 Brittle materials such as glass, ceramics, carbides, precious stones,

hardened steels etc., are difficult to machine by conventional methods

 USM is a non-thermal; non-chemical; creates no change in the

microstructure, chemical or physical properties of the work piece and
offers virtually stress-free machined surfaces

 These features enable hard and brittle materials to be economically and

efficiently machined, which otherwise would have been difficult to shape
by conventional methods
 The term ultrasonic is used to describe a vibratory
wave of a frequency above that of the upper
frequency limit of a human ear, that is generally
above 16 kHz
 USM Process characteristics:
Principle: Oscillating tool in water- abrasive slurry

Physical parameters:
Abrasive slurry- Boron carbide, aluminum oxide, silicon
carbide (100-800 grit size)
Vibration- Frequency 15,000-30,000 cps,
Amplitude- 0.025 to 0.1mm
Tool material- Soft steel
Wear ratio- Tungsten 1.5:1 , Glass 100:1
Gap or overcut- 0.02 to 0.1mm

Critical parameters- frequency, amplitude, tool holder shape, grit

size, hole depth, circulation, slurry viscosity

Material applications- 1. Metals and alloys (particularly hard and

brittle material)
2. Non- metals
Part application- Round and irregular holes

Limitations- 1. Low metal removal rate

2. Tool wear
3. Hole depth
 Principle Of USM
Ultrasonic machining is based on the principle that, when a tool vibrating at a very high frequency is bought closer to the workpiece

with abrasive particles between them, the vibrating energy of the tool can propel the abrasive particles to strike the workpiece with a

great velocity


The impact of the abrasive particles fracture the hard work surface resulting in the removal of material from the work piece

Principle: Oscillating tool in water- abrasive slurry

Cutting tool oscillates at a high frequency above
20,000cps in an abrasive slurry

The tool has the same shape as the cavity to be

machined
• The high speed oscillations of the tool drive the abrasive grain across a
small gap of about 0.02-0.1mm against the work piece
• The impact of the abrasive is uniquely responsible for the material
removal
• Ultrasonic machining is mainly employed to machine hard and brittle
materials which are either electrically conducting or non-conducting
Ultrasonic machine (USM)
1—magneto-strictive transducer, 2—coupling cone, 3—tool, 4—abrasive slurry, 5—
workpiece, 6—fixture, 7 —pump, 8—tank
ULTRASONIC MACHINE
Ultrasonic machine consists of the following parts:

• Power supply
• Transducer
• Tool holder
• Tool and
• Abrasives
 USM Operation:
 USM process begins with the
conversion of low-frequency electrical
power to a high-frequency electrical
signal, which is then fed to a
transducer

The transducer converts the high-

frequency electrical signal to a high-
frequency mechanical motion
(vibrations), which in turn is amplified
by the tool holder, and then
transmitted to the tool tip via the
intermediate connecting parts
 The tool, which is having the
same shape as the cavity to be
machined, vibrates or oscillates at
a very high frequency in the
abrasive slurry pumped between
the tool-work interface

The vibration of the tool transmits

a high velocity to the abrasive
particles, and as a result, the
abrasive particles strike the work
piece with a great force
 This impact fractures the hard and
brittle work surface resulting in the
removal of material in the form of a
small wear particles

 The abrasive slurry flowing at the

cutting zone carries away the fractured
particles

 The tool is pressed against the work

piece by applying a slight force (in
terms of kgs.), while the abrasive
slurry is being pumped in at low
pressures till the operation is
completed
Ultrasonic machine consists of the following parts:

• Power supply
• Transducer
• Tool holder
• Tool and
• Abrasives
1. Power supply:
• The machine have the power rating of
0.02-2.5KW
• The power supply used for ultrasonic
machining is a high-power sine wave
generator that offers the users to have
control over both the frequency and
power of the generated signal
• Electronic oscillator and amplifier also
known as generator, converts the low-
frequency electrical power (60 Hz) to a
high-frequency electric power
(approximately 20 kHz) ie, 20,000 cps
which is then supplied to the transducer
2) Transducer / Acoustic head:

• A transducer is a device that converts the high frequency

electrical signal to a high-frequency mechanical motion

• There are two types of transducers working on two different

principles: piezoelectric and magnetostrictive

• The transducer based on the magnetostrictive effect is utilized

in ultrasonic machining process
• Piezoelectric transducer generates mechanical motion
through the piezoelectric effect of certain materials like quartz
or lead-zirconate

• When an electric current is applied to one of these materials,

the material increases minutely in size, and when the current
is removed, the material instantly returns
• The transducer operates by
magnetostriction
• The magnetostriction effect is one in
which the material changes in
dimension in response to a magnetic
field
• Its main element are an electromagnet
and a stack of nickel plates
• The high frequency power supply
activates the stack of magnetostrictive
material which produces a vibratory
motion of the tool
• The magnetostriction type of transducers which utilize the effect of
longitudinal magnetostriction

• Magnetostrictive transducer may be also made of nickel, iron-cobalt or iron-

aluminium

• Nickel finds maximum application because of high strength and good

insulating properties of nickel oxide film

• An alternating electromagnetic field of ultrasonic frequency is produced by a

conventional tube generator
• Under the action of this field, the magnetostrictor is periodically
magnetized and its length changes

• A fair amount of the energy input to the transducer appears as a heat

• A good cooling system is therefore a necessity. Air cooling is used in

machines up to 50 W capacity, but for high power rating machines, water
cooling is must
 Tool holder, tool cone and tool tip
3) Tool holder:
• The high frequency mechanical
motion obtained from the
transducer is transmitted to the
tool via a tool holder

• The tool holder, as the name

implies, helps to attach and hold
the tool to the transducer

• In addition, it also transmits or

amplifies the length of stroke
(vibration) at the tool
• Tool holders can be either non-amplifying or amplifying type

• Non-amplifying tool holders result in the same stroke

amplitude at the output end as at the input end

• Amplifying tool holders increase the amplitude of the tool

stroke
• The tool holder transfers the vibrations and, therefore, it must have
adequate fatigue strength

• With a good tool design, an amplitude gain of 6 over the stack can be
obtained

• The shape of the tool holder is cylindrical or conical

4)Concentrator or Waveguide or tool cone :

The amplitude of this vibration is

usually inadequate for cutting
purposes
 The tool is connected to the
transducer by means of a
concentrator or tool cone
The concentrator is a convergent
wave guide and produces the desired
amplitude at the tool end
The amplitude of vibration is of the
order of 0.01-0.06mm
• The tool cone (also called “horn”)
amplifies and focuses the
mechanical energy produced by
the transducer and imparts this to
the work piece in such a way that
energy utilization is optimum

• It is simply a velocity transformer

• Titanium is a good material for

the tool cone
• The magnetostrictive
material (transducer) is
brazed to a connecting
body of monel metal
• A removable tool holder is
fastened to the connecting
body and is made of
stainless steel
• All these parts, including
the tool, act as one elastic
body, transmitting the
vibrations to the tip of the
tool
 5. Cutting Tool or Tool tip:
• The tool is constructed from ductile
materials like stainless steel, brass,
or mild steel

• it has the same shape as that of the

cavity to be machined in the work
piece

• The size of the tool is slightly smaller

than that of the desired shape in the
work piece

• The tool is attached to the tool

holder by silver brazing, soft
soldering, or by means of screws
• The area of the tool should not
exceed the area of small section of
the cone by more than 10-15%
• The area of the tip influences the rate
of penetration
• A 11.98mm diameter tool tip may
produce a 12.00±0.005mm hole,
when a 600 grit(0.01mm particle size)
is used
• The tool tip has to withstand
vibrations and it should not fail or
wear out quickly
• Most of the wear occurs at the end;
wear at the sides is about 10 times
less
Tool materials and tool size:

• The tool materials employed in USM should be tough and ductile

• Metals that are very ductile, like aluminium give very short life

• Low carbon steel and stainless steels give superior performance

• The mass length of the tool is very
important

• Too great a mass absorbs much of

the ultrasonic energy, reducing the
efficiency of the machining

• Long tool causes overstressing of the

tool and of the brazed point

• Most of the USM tools are less than

25mm long
• The under sizing of the tool depends upon the grain size of
the abrasive

• It is sufficient if the tool size is equal to the hole size minus

twice the size of the abrasives
Tool feed mechanism:

The feed mechanism of an ultrasonic machine must perform the following

functions:

• Bring the tool very slowly close to the work piece

• Provide adequate cutting force and sustain this during cutting
• Decrease the force at a specified depth
• Overrun a small distance to ensure the required hole size at a exit
• Return the tool
• For accurate working, tool feed mechanism must be precise and sensitive
• Fig a , b, c, d show the principles of different types of feed systems
• In the system shown in figure (a) and (b) counter weights are used, the
force being the difference between the weight of the head and that of the
counter weight attached through a pulley or lever system
• The force is adjusted through the weights. Though simple, such a system is
insensitive and inconvenient to adjust
• Fig (c) shows a compact spring- loaded system which is
quite sensitive
• For high rating machines, pneumatic or hydraulic systems
(fig d) may be used.
 6. Abrasive slurry:
• Abrasives are usually suspended in liquid (water), and supplied to the
cutting zone during the operation

• Boron carbide, silicon carbide and aluminium oxide (alumina), diamond

dust are the most commonly used abrasives

• The type of abrasive selected depends on the hardness of the work piece
material
• The abrasive slurry is stored in a reservoir and pumped to the tool-
work interface (cutting zone) through a nozzle

• The flowing abrasive, apart from fracturing the work piece, also
carries away the fractured particles
• Boron is the most expensive abrasive material but is best suited for cutting
tungsten carbide, tool steel, and precious stones

• Silicon finds maximum application

• Alumina is best for cutting glass, germanium and ceramics

• The problem with alumina is that it wears fast and soon loses its cutting
power
• Boron carbide is the most widely used abrasive in USM for the
following reasons

• It is nearly two times harder than silicon carbide and has greater
resistance to fracture.

• It can cut at a faster rate than any other type of abrasive.

• It has the capability of withstanding very high vibrational and

impact forces encountered in the USM process.

• Close tolerance and proper surface finish can be achieved with its
use.
• Diamond and rubies are nicely cut by using diamond powder which
ensures good accuracy, surface finish and cutting rates

• Boron silico carbide is a new promising abrasive which has an abrasive

powder 8-12% greater than that of boron carbide

• The size of abrasive varies between 200 and 2000 grit

• Coarse grades are good for roughing, whereas finer grades of 1000 grit are
used for finishing
• The sizes of the abrasive particles are chosen on the basis of surface
finish required

• The size of abrasive varies between 200 and 2000 grit. Coarse grades are
good for roughing, whereas finer grades of 1000 grit are used for
finishing.

• Coarser size of particles cut at a faster rate than the finer grits but the
surface finish obtained is not as good as with finer grits.

• Hence, to achieve the dc cutting action, it is necessary to choose the

abrasive size carefully for individual job requirements
• Liquid media:
The abrasive is suspended in liquid

The liquid performs many functions:

• Acts as an acoustic bond between the work piece and the vibrating tool

• Helps efficient transfer of energy between the work piece and tool

• Acts as a coolant

• Provides a medium to carry the abrasive to the cutting zone

• Helps to carry away the worn abrasive

• The characteristics of a good suspension media (the liquid) are:

• Density, approximately equal to that of abrasive

• Good wetting properties to wet the tool, work, and abrasive

• High thermal conductivity and specific heat for efficient removal of heat
from the cutting zone
• Low viscosity to carry the abrasive down sides of the hole between the
tool and work piece

• Non corrosive properties to avoid corrosion of the work piece and tool

• Water is frequently used as the liquid carrier since it satisfies most of the
requirements. Some inhibitor is generally added to the water
Abrasive feed mechanism:

1.The abrasive slurry can be supplied by hand in a small machine

2. For machines of higher power, a pump (usually centrifugal type) is used

to supply the slurry through a nozzle

3. A good method is to keep the slurry in a bath in the cutting zone. This
ensures a good supply and reduces any tendency of tool to scatter the
slurry when amplitude is large

4. Another effective method of supplying the slurry to the cutting zone is

through a hollow tool or holes in the work piece
• Generally ,abrasive slurry is circulated by pumping
• It requires cooling to remove the generated heat to prevent it from
boiling in the gap and causing the undesirable cavitation effect caused by
high temperature
• A refrigerated cooling system is used to cool the abrasive slurry to a
temperature of 5-6 °C
Effects of following parameters on Material removal
rate-
• Effect of amplitude and frequency of vibration
• Effect of grain diameter
• Effect of applied static load
• Effect of slurry, tool and work material
Effect of amplitude and frequency of vibration:

Abrasive: Boron carbide

Frequency: 25 kc/s
Tool material: ketos
Work material: steel

Miller found that for a given material, cutting rate

bears a linear relationship with amplitude. His data,
however had much scatter as shown in graph
• According to Goetze, cutting rate increases linearly with an
increase in both amplitude (a) and frequency (f) and the
abrasive/water ratio, the term (R/af) is almost constant
• The tool vibration amplitude has a predominant influence on
the metal removal rate in USM
• With the increase in the amplitude of tool vibration, the
velocity of the tool tip also increases in the same proportion
• This results in a corresponding increase in the momentum of
the abrasive particles
• Hence, the kinetic energy of the particles will also increase as
the square of the velocity and the metal removal rate will
increase
Graph 2 : Results of experiment conducted by Shaw and Goetze
predicted a linear relationship when metal removal rate versus
frequency
Effect of grain diameter:

Goetze claimed that cutting rate increases linearly with grain size, but the
findings of Neppiras and Foskett indicated a non-linear effect of grain
diameter on the removal rate
 There is a limit to the effect of grain size on the rate as a very coarse
powder may even cause a fall in rate as shown in graph
 The optimum size is governed by the amplitude of tool vibration
 Effect of applied static load:

On the metal removal rate for different sizes of tool, the machining rate reaches
a maximum as the static load on the tool is increased as shown in graph
• Surface finish is found to be little affected by the applied static load

• Higher loads, do not give a rough finish. The grains are crushed to small
size with high finish
 Effect of slurry:

It has been found that a rise in cutting rate can be achieved with an increase in slurry
concentration

The pressure with which the slurry is fed into the cutting zone has a remarkable effect
on the metal removal rate
• Pentland observed that the metal removal rate in ultrasonic drilling is
doubled by improving slurry circulation

• The metal removal rate can be increased even ten times by supplying the
slurry at an increasing pressure
• The pressure with which the slurry is fed into the cutting zone
has a remarkable effect on the material removal rate
• The influence of slurry temperature on the removal rate is
mainly due to cavitation effect
• Cavitation is again influenced by the variation of fluid or slurry
temperature
• It is found that maximum metal removal rate is obtained at the
temperature of about 50°C which signifies the fact that the
vapour pressure of water at this temperature causes optimum
cavitation and the cavitation effect is found to decrease below
or above this temperature
Effect of tool :

• Shape of the tool face also affects the cutting rate maxima

• A narrow rectangular tool gives a maximum cutting rate than a tool of the
same area with a square cross section

• It is also possible to rise the cutting rate by 50% by replacing a cylindrical

tool with a conical cone
 Effect of work material:

• The cutting forces involved in ultrasonic machining are not large, no

mechanical stresses are setup which could cause warping or other residual
deformation
• The microstructure of work material is not affected as the temperature
generated at the cutting area is not appreciable
• But if the flow of abrasive slurry is impaired , high heat may develop, which
may sometime lead to cracking
• In drilling through holes, chipping may occur at the exit side. A simple way
to overcome this is to fasten the work piece to a base with wax
 USM Process characteristics:

1. Metal removal rate:

• USM can be employed to machine nearly all materials however,

it is not economical to use USM for materials of hardness less
than 50HRC

• Generally, stainless steel, cobalt-base heat resistant steels,

germanium, glass, ceramic, carbide, quartz and semiconductors
are machined by USM
• Material removal rate per unit time is inversely proportional
to the cutting area of the tool, provided the circulation of the
slurry and other operating conditions are held constant

• Tool vibrations also affect the removal rate

• The type of abrasive, its size and concentration of the slurry
also directly affect the material removal rate

• Boron carbide is the hardest and has the highest material

removing capability
 2. Tool wear:

• The tool wear in USM is defined by the ratio of volume of material

removed from the work piece to that removed from the tool

• Table below illustrates the effect of different tool materials on the wear
ratios in machining glass and steatite

Tool material Wear ratio

Glass Steatite
Stainless steel 100:1 40:1
Carbon steel 100:1 35:1
Brass 40:1 10:1
3. Accuracy:
• The size of the hole produced by USM is influenced by the grit of the
abrasive

• The size of a round produced by this process is equal to the size of

the tool plus an overcut which is about twice the size of the
abrasive particles
• Use of two or more tools for roughing and finishing is essential
because of tool wear and because of the need to use different
grades of abrasives for roughing and finishing

• Holes of accuracies with tolerance of ±0.03mm on diameter and

±0.06mm on depth can be obtained

• A minimum corner radius of 0.10mm is possible in finish

machining
4. Surface finish:
• The surface finish in USM
depends on the size of the
abrasive particles, work
materials, tool amplitude and
slurry circulation

• With finer sizes of abrasives, a

surface finish of 0.2-0.8µm can be
achieved

• The finer abrasives result in

slower material removal rate
 ADVANTAGES OF USM:
 Ability to machine non-conductive materials like glass, ceramics etc

 Ultrasonic machining is a non-thermal, non-chemical, creates no change

in the microstructure, chemical or physical properties of the work piece

 No burrs and no distortion of work piece

 Suitable for hard and brittle work piece materials

 By using USM, any intricate shapes can be machined

 DISADVANTAGES OF USM:
• Low metal removal rates

• Depth of holes and cavities produced are small. Usually the

depth of hole is limited to 2.5 times the diameter of the tool

• Tool wear is more

• Not suitable for soft work piece materials

 APPLICATIONS OF USM:

• Drilling and machining cavities or holes in conductive and non-

conductive materials like glass and ceramics etc

• Threading of various glass and ceramic materials

• Hard materials and precious stones such as synthetic ruby for the
preparation of jewels for watch and timer movements are
successfully machined by this method
• Ultrasonic machining is useful in micro-drilling hole upto
0.1mm

• Enabling a dentist to drill a hole of any shape without creating

any pain

• Casting and welding of metals

• Measurement of hardness and grain size determination of

metals
Applications of USM: