Enabling and Understanding Ultrasonic Machining of Engineering Ceramics Using Parametric Analysis

Ultrasonic machining (USM) on ceramics is highly demanded in the present industry because of its wide and potential uses in various fields in modern industries. Experiments based on central composite second-order rotatable design have been conducted on ultrasonic drilling of hexagonal shaped hole on high alumina ceramic. RSM was employed for developing empirical models. Analysis on machining characteristics of ultrasonic drilling operation was made based on the developed models. In this study, abrasive grit size, slurry concentration, power rating, tool feed rate, and slurry flow rate are considered as USM process parameters. The process performances on workpiece material with respect to material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness are evaluated by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum parametric combination of USM process parameters for maximum MRR and minimum value of surface roughness have been obtained through multiobjective optimization.