Experimental Study on Cutting Force and Surface Integrity of TC4 Titanium Alloy with Longitudinal Ultrasonic-Assisted Milling

Abstract

The ultrasonic vibration-assisted milling process was used to study the difficult-to-machine aerospace material titanium alloy TC4 and explore the milling parameters that fit the processing. Based on the orthogonal experimental method, the changes in cutting force, roughness, and surface morphology under conventional and ultrasonic-assisted milling conditions were studied, and the relationship between various processing parameters and their effects was obtained. The results showed that the cutting force was most affected by the feed per tooth and cutting depth. Adding ultrasonic vibration could change the surface texture and significantly impact roughness. By adding an appropriate amplitude of ultrasonic-assisted milling, the maximum average cutting force can be reduced by more than 20.66%, and the maximum surface roughness can be reduced by 44.23%, making the workpiece surface produce regular “sine/cosine” patterns and improving the surface quality of the workpiece. Compared with conventional milling, the deformation layer of the workpiece slightly increased under ultrasonic-assisted milling. The cutting force and surface roughness of titanium alloy TC4 under ultrasonic-assisted milling were reduced. A reasonable selection of processing parameters can further improve cutting force and other parameters, providing a reference basis for the processing of aerospace materials.