Insight into surface formation mechanism during ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting of tungsten alloy by scratching experiment and molecular dynamics

Understanding the surface forming mechanism is an extreme challenge during ultrasonic elliptical vibratory cutting (UEVC) of tungsten alloy. Hence, this study aims to an in-depth comprehension of the surface formation mechanism by means of scratching experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. The results revealed that UEVC produced less surface roughness and obvious surface plastic flow compared with ordinary cutting (OC) due to the plastic removal caused by high plastic cutting depth and small material removal during UEVC. Furthermore, compared with OC, the cutting stress in UEVC exceeded the stress threshold required for the opening of most slip systems so as to obtain a higher surface dislocation density, which was favorable to achieving high plastic deformation.