Experimental Investigation on Ultrasonic Vibration Assisted Turning of Sicp/Al Composites

Particle-reinforced aluminium matrix composites are widely used in aerospace, automobile, and electronics industries. However, the high abrasiveness of their reinforcing constituents makes the turning of this kind of material difficult to carry out due to excessive tool wear and surface damage. In this work, ultrasonic vibration-assisted turning tests were carried out on aluminium alloy Al2024 reinforced with Vf = 45% SiC particles by using polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools to investigate the effect of the tool geometries on the cutting force and the machined surface roughness. Experimental results show that tool rake angle and tool nose radius exert a considerable influence on the cutting force and machined surface integrity. A comparison of tool flank wear pattern between the conventional turning and the ultrasonic-assisted turning reveals that the tool wear reduced significantly during the ultrasonic vibration assisted turning.