Material removal rate prediction for ultrasonic drilling of hard materials using an impact oscillator approach

Abstract It is postulated that the main mechanism of the enhancement of material removal rate (MRR) in ultrasonic machining is associated with high amplitudes forces generated by impacts, which act on the workpiece and help to develop micro-cracking in the cutting zone. The inherent non-linearity of the discontinuous impact process is modelled, to generate the pattern of the impact forces. A novel procedure for calculating the MRR is proposed, which for the first time explains the experimentally observed fall in MRR at higher static forces.